Naruto: Devil Sword
by Talks to Himself
Summary: Naruto meets a man who takes him from Fire Country and slowly he sees the ninja world is far from what he imagined. This is an AU it has OOC and OC's it contains aspects from Rurouni Kenshin though it is not a crossover. Rated M for later Chaps.
1. Naruto and Jin 1: The Meeting

**Hey everyone this is my first fic and to try and make enjoyable for everyone I'm open to constructive criticism to improve later on.**

**This is an AU and not a crossover, only Styles from Ruroni Kenshin will be used.**

**As a warning other aspects that are going to be changed are as follows Character Deaths and a few gender changes but those won't come till later. Also there are OC's in this and OOC.**

**As for Pairings maybe later but not now.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Rurouni Kenshin I am merely writing a story for entertainment purposes.**

Chapter 1

In the village of Konoha a small child was running, fear evident in his eyes. Rounding corner after corner he tried desperately to lose the mob that was giving chase.

Coming to an unknown part of town the grip on the child's teddy bear tightened. Growing desperate as the voices of the mob grew louder he rounded another corner only to wind up in a dead end.

Turning around trying to escape the confines of the alley he came face to face with his pursuers.

"Thought you could outrun us eh monster?" said a rather grisly looking brandishing a mean looking club.

Scared out of his mind, not knowing what to do, the child did the first that came to mind; he curled up into a ball and hugged his teddy bear and began to sob.

Quietly waiting for the inevitable he couldn't help but wonder _'why'_. Suddenly he was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard silent murmurs from the crowd, he couldn't hear all of it the only part he caught was the word sword. When suddenly one of the voices spoke up.

"Get out of the way." It wasn't a statement so much as a command.

"And why should we?" The voice was nervous.

"You're blocking the entrance." The voice sounded annoyed by this point.

Curious now the child took a chance and peaked at the entrance the stranger was talking about. Further down the alley the child could make out a sign and an entrance upon closer inspection the sign had the word "Bar" on it.

Chancing a glance at the crowd in the alley now the child saw that people were making way for someone, a newcomer emerged from the group, the first thing the child noticed about him was the sword on his belt. Now terrified the child did not realize he began to shake, retreating back to darkness behind his arms he began to sob even louder.

Looking at the pathetic sight before him the man couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid. The child was dressed in a shirt that couldn't even be called a hand me down, dirt stains riddled it as well as multiple tears. His shorts didn't seem to be any better with rips everywhere, as it stood they didn't seem like they could last through the week. The child didn't even have any shoes his feet were poorly wrapped in bandages. The child himself looked like he was malnourished with so much dirt and grime on him it was hard to tell what color his skin was.

Looking at the crowd and the shaking child the man couldn't help but think 'this village hit a new time low'.

"Hey kid." The man said.

Chancing one more peek the child saw that the new man was talking to him. Almost immediately after the glance the child went back to hiding his face.

Seeing the child hide again the man began to think _'Great the kids terrified… then again I_ _can't blame him'_ as he was thinking this the man began looking at the crowd in the alley, most had a look of confusion as to what was going on here while some still had a malicious glint in there eyes. _'Who the hell is supposed to be taking care of the_ _kid'_ the man let out a sigh as he thought this. He hated these kinds of situations; he just wanted to get his job done and start heading home.

"Hey kid you hungry?" This time the man's tone was softer.

The child, now curious, looked at the man completely. As if to give the answer without talking the child's stomach growled. Blushing, the child a small nod of his head.

"Well this place has some decent food come on I'll buy you something." As the man finished his sentence he turned to gauge the crowd's reaction. Almost immediately the crowd let out gasps and murmurs could be heard. One of the ones next to him spoke up.

"Your obviously new here if your showing sympathy to that little demon over there, so let me give you some friendly advice stranger don't put your nose where it don't belong." The pudgy little man tried to sound as threatening as he could.

The man completely ignoring him started to approach the child. Seeing this, the child started to shake slightly and the fear began coming back to him. Upon reaching the child the man bent down slowly and put his hand on the child's back. The child's automatic response was to flinch.

"Come on now I'm not going to hurt you." The man's tone was as soft as he could make it.

The child now looking at the man couldn't figure out why someone was being so nice to him. _'Is he trying to trick me, but aren't they already going to hurt me? Why are they going to trick and hurt that would be dumb? Maybe he is going to buy me something.'_ His thoughts were interrupted when the crowd decided not to stand idly by anymore.

"I warned you to stay out of this stranger." The pudgy little man said as he and the rest of the crowd began to approach the two.

Winking at the kid the man stood up and turned around. The child looked at the strangers back curious as to what would happen. Hearing gasps from the crowd the child changed his attention to them what he amazed him, the looks on there faces was similar to that of a terrified animal.

"Go home." It was a simple statement, but the tone behind the child had never heard before. It scared him, the man was talking to him nicely just a while ago and now he sounded scarier than all the villagers put together.

The villagers followed the man's command and began backing off slowly, scared that a wrong move would anger the man more than needed to be. When the last one backed out of the alley the man turned back around and knelt beside the child again.

"Come on I still have to buy you something to eat." Whatever anger in the man's voice was gone. The man offered his hand to the child. The child regarded the man for a moment then took his hand.

Following the man as he began walking the child studied the man for the first time since he had seen him. Though he could only see him from the side the child could see that the man's hair was black, combed back, and he was tall taller than most of the people he'd seen. Next he saw was the long coat the man wore, the color black as night, the child took his free hand and touched it and felt how smooth it was; he didn't know what kind of material it was but he did like how it felt. The child then examined the hand that was holding his and focused on the glove covering it. The glove itself was nothing special, but the child did note was that there seemed to something in his glove moving his hand around in the man's the child could swear he heard sand moving around in there.

The child was broken from his observation as he tripped walking into the entrance of the place they were going into. Bringing his free hand to protect his face the child was braced for the impact. It never came; the child moved his arm and saw that the man had caught him before he hit the ground.

"Need to be careful little guy." The man said gently, righting the boy's stance. Turning to the man giving him a foxy grin he mouthed a small thank you.

That was when the child got to get a good look at the man's face, what immediately drew the child's attention was the man's eyes. The child's eyes widened a little seeing the color of the man's eyes, they did not match! One was blue and the other was brown. Seeing the child's face troubled the man asked.

"Is there something wrong kid?" Embarrassed for being caught the child looked down at the ground.

"Mister your eyes are funny." The child's voice was almost a whisper.

The man blinked once, twice, three times and began to laugh a little. Hearing this the child looked at the man confused.

"They are kind of funny aren't they?" The man said amused.

The Child smiled and began laughing with him. Taking his hand again the child felt relieved that he didn't make this guy angry. Going through the bar the child noted that it was kind of empty he could only make out three people in the entire place. Thinking about it the child remembered that today was October, 10 everyone usually went to the festival today. Satisfied with his answer the child looked to see that they were at the bar's counter. The man turned and looked down at the child and helped him up onto one of the stools.

The child then looked at the space area behind the counter upon his new elevated seat. The man sitting down next to the kid looked around for the man he needed to talk to. Not finding him he just decided to call out to him.

"Barkeep" the man raised his voice loud enough for it to be heard in the entire establishment.

Hearing movement coming from one of the room's in the back the man and the child both turned to the door that was being opened. Out walked a smaller man who seemed to walking with a limp, he had black hair that was unruly. His face was rough and worn. He was dressed in a simple white button up shirt and black pants. Nearing the two sitting down the man took one look at the child and glared.

"You're too young to be in here and even if you were I wouldn't serve someone like you" his voice was firm and held a touch of venom in it.

The child looked down and tears began to form up in his eyes. Why was everyone so mean to him he couldn't figure it out.

"The kids with me… and I suggest you don't use that tone with him again if you know what's good for you Shin" the man's tone was firm and commanding.

The child looked over at the man who just stood up for him. Happiness began to feel his heart. No one had ever stood up for him, except old man Hokage but even then he never saw him do it without other ninja surrounding him.

Turning his attention back to the bartender the child noticed that some of the color drained from the man's face. The bartender slowly turned his head to stare at the man who had made the statement upon seeing the face of the man the bartenders jaw dropped.

"J-Jin I d-didn't know you where here, how can I help you?" The small man seemed scared out of his mind and the child couldn't understand why, though more importantly the child got the man's name.

"Shin relax man, I'm only here for a few things I need some food for the kid, a glass of milk for me, and you know the last thing I need." Jin was smiling an amused little smile seeing the reaction that the other man had to him.

The bartender relaxed a little hearing what Jin said slowly nodding his head to confirm he heard the order. Then began to slowly walk away and stop suddenly, he turned over to look at Jin, the bartender's expression kept switching from being confused to being amused.

"Milk" Shin asked timidly.

Jin knew this would happened, it always happened when he ordered this. He looked at the bartender with a serious expression on his face. He hated when people said that it wasn't his fault that milk tasted so good.

"Put it in a dirty glass" even though the voice was monotone inside Jin wasn't too happy.

'_Damn I hate it when I do that, damn milk tastes horrible then,'_ as the bartender turned to leave Jin expression turned to one of annoyance.

The child seeing the exchange was confused. What was wrong with milk? He liked milk; in fact he liked it a lot. Not getting any answers he decided to ask Jin.

"Jin what's wrong with milk?" The child asked with his finger on his chin.

"Nothings wrong with milk kid, it's just that it seems weird for an adult to come into a bar ordering it." As Jin said this he looked at the child with a bored expression on his face. _'Hmm whisker marks on his face… eh I've seen weirder things'_.

"So why were those villagers chasing you around like that?" Jin looked at the child's face as he said and could feel the child's mood drop considerably.

The truth was the child didn't know why the villagers were always so cruel to him. They always beat him, steal his possessions, and call him names without ever giving him a reason why. He gave the only answer that he could give to the situation.

"I don't know why, they always do this to me especially when it's my birthday." The child's voice cracked a little when he said this, a tear could be seen coming down his face. When the tear left his face the child found the floor to be rather interesting at the moment.

'_This is really fucked up, no child should have to put up with this shit,'_ Jin thought the expression on his face changing to slight anger.

"When's your birthday kid?" Jin's expression changed back to being bored.

Hearing Jin address him the child perked up and looked at him a depressed.

"It's today" he replied with a sad tone.

"Happy birthday" upon saying this Jin turned back to the counter and retreated into his thoughts.

The child's, slightly taken back by the statement, smiled a small smile hearing what Jin said _'thank you'_ was all the boy thought.

Still thinking about recent developments the boy didn't notice Jin tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey kid" Jin said.

Finally jarred from his thoughts the boy looked at Jin. "What" he asked quizzically.

"Foods here" and with that Jin started to drink his milk.

Looking down at his plate the child's mouth started to water. _'Food, real food'_ and with that he began to inhale the pieces of cut meat on his plate.

Looking at the boy next to him Jin couldn't help but feel a little amused, and then turned his attention back to the bartender who looked a little nervous.

"How's the little lady Shin" Jin said in a bored tone. Seeing the poor guy jump at being addressed Jin couldn't help but chuckle.

"She's fine" Shin said as fast as he could. He didn't want to have to talk to Jin any more then he had to.

"Why so jumpy Shin?" Jin said rather calmly. He knew that Shin didn't really like to talk with him, but that didn't mean he didn't like messing with the guy.

"You're the reason why! Who wouldn't be jumpy when you show up?" Shin spat before realizing what he was saying. After it came out of his mouth his face went pale and he started backing like a cornered animal.

"Ah come on I'm not that bad am I?" Jin said putting down his glass of milk, noting that it didn't taste like it was in a dirty glass.

"Last time you were here you broke my arm!" Shin blurted out unconsciously grabbing his arm.

Jin turned his head a little looking at the kid now almost done with his plate. "Yeah but you learned your lesson right, and that's why you have your payment ready right?" Jin smiled as he talked remembering the last he was here. "When you get a chance get me some more milk."

"Yeah yeah" Shin said taking his glass and going to refill the glass.

Looking around Jin noticed that the bar was starting to get more customers. _ 'Better finish business soon its always harder working around crowds'_ Jin thought before hearing the sound of glass hitting the counter.

"Thanks, all you need to do now is pay up and I'll be on my way" Jin said more quietly than he intended.

Shin sighed taking an envelope out of his back pocket and put it next to glass of milk.

"Much better" Jin chirped happily. Downing the milk in gulp he put the glass down took up the envelope and deposited it inside his coat.

"I'll be on my way then, kid lets go" Jin said in the same bored tone he had on earlier.

The child looked up from the plate he had been licking and saw his new friend leaving; he hopped off his stool and ran after him screaming "Bye Mister!" Waving goodbye as he ran.

Outside in the alley the child saw Jin walking slowly out of the alley.

"Hey Jin thanks for dinner." The child said with a beaming smile on his face clutching his teddy bear tightly.

Jin looking over at the kid as he said that couldn't help but smile back. _'Damn that's contagious'_ Jin thought.

"Your welcome" Jin said with that same smile on his face.

Coming to the end of the alley Jin turned toward the small boy and said "Well this is where we part ways kid see you around" and with that he turned and started walking away.

The child looked at the retreating form of the man trying to decide what to do. He didn't want to go back to the orphanage he was afraid that they would be waiting for him there, he didn't want to go to the Hokages tower the ninja there are unusually cruel during his birthday, and he didn't want to just wander the street and end up hiding in dumpster like last year. Thinking of everything he could within his power at the moment he decided on what he thought was the safest thing to do was. He started following Jin.

'_Poor kid, maybe I should have given him some money so he could buy something nice' _Jin thought walking towards the gates of the village. _'Hmm…maybe I can still catch him then'_ as he finished the thought Jin turned around to begin backtracking when he the little blonde head that he was looking for following him.

"Eh you following me kid?" Jin asked curiously.

The child looked up at him with a small smile on his face. "Yeah I am" after saying this, his small smile turned into a foxy grin.

"Well at least you're honest, but why are you following me?" Jin could almost guess the answer but he needed to hear it from the kid to be sure.

"Well I have nowhere else to go, if I go back to the orphanage they'll beat me up and other than that I have nowhere else to go nobody really likes me except you and old man Hokage." He stated matter-of-factly.

Jin didn't know what to think at the moment. _'Why did they have to chase him in front that god damn bar'_ Jin thought bringing his hand up to his face rubbing his forehead.

"Kid you can't come with me I don't even live here." Jin stated a little coldly. He didn't want to sound mean but the kid couldn't come with him.

The boy's hopes were crushed when that statement left Jin's mouth. He didn't know what to do now he didn't want something else bad to happen to him. One of the only people that have never been mean to him was leaving and he didn't know what to do. Tears began to form in his eyes.

Jin couldn't take the scene in front of him. _'God dammit why me' _and began walking off with that last thought. He didn't get more than five steps when he heard it, the sound of crying coming from behind him. _'Ugh…I'm going soft' _Jin thought and turned around.

"Kid you want to come with me." Jin said hoping this didn't come back and haunt him later.

"Huh." The child said still crying.

"Yeah kid you can come with me, but you have to realize if you do your probably not going to see this village for a while, hell I don't even this in Fire Country." Jin said calmly.

The child thought about it. _'I have to leave here, I'm kind of scared I've never been out of the village before…but Jin is going to be with so it can't be that bad.'_

"Thank you" the child said quietly walking up to Jin.

Jin took the child's hand in his and began walking to the gate again. Wondering how he always got into this kind of mess he realized something important, he didn't even know the kids name.

"Hey what's your name I can't keep calling you kid you know" Jin stated.

"Oh yeah I totally forgot about that" the child said cheery. A sweatdrop appeared on Jin's head _'how do you forget that'_ Jin thought to himself.

"It's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto said proudly.

"That's a good name Naruto it's nice to meet you" Jin said amused.

"Thanks Jin" Naruto said smiling the biggest smile he's ever done.

Jin felt smiled again when he saw Naruto. '_Dammit he's got to stop that it's too contagious'._

Upon approaching the gate out of the village a figure stood in the middle of the doorway clad in white robes and a hat that had the kanji for 'Fire' on it he looked as if waiting for someone. Jin had a hunch as to who it was, his suspicions were confirmed when Naruto let go of his hand and ran towards the figure.

"Old man!" the child shouted excited to no end that he got to see him before he left with Jin.

"Hello Naruto how are you?" old Sarutobi said giving Naruto a smile.

"I'm fine old man! Hey you'll never guess what happened the villagers were gonna hurt me again but then Jin saved and he even bought me dinner afterwards." Naruto was smiling brightly recalling the story of earlier.

The old Hokage let out a sad sigh.

"Is that right, and who is this Jin that saved you?" Sarutobi couldn't help but feel depressed as he heard what could have happened to the small boy earlier.

Jin looked at the old Hokage with some distaste. _'So I guess the old bastard is still alive then, wonder where the other one is the one with blonde hair'._

"I'm Jin." Upon hearing this Sarutobi turned his attention to the rather tall man.

"Ah well it looks like I owe you a debt of thanks then Jin-san, I can only imagine what would have happened to little Naruto if you hadn't shown up." Sarutobi said giving a smile.

Jin was getting annoyed, he wanted to start on his way home he had a long trip ahead of him and to top it off he was looking at a man he didn't like.

"Sorry for being rude, but Naruto and I have a long trip ahead of us and I would like to make it to the next inn before it gets to dark." Jin said sounding a little frustrated.

Naruto looked at Jin as he was speaking and realized that he hadn't said anything to the old man about leaving with Jin. Turning over to the old Hokage Naruto gave a sheepish smile and said embarrassed "Yeah I kind of forgot to tell ya that Jin said that I could go and live him."

Jin sweatdropped _'how the hell could he forget to tell him that'. _Ah well it didn't really matter it was just one of the things he would have to get used to about the kid. Turning his attention to Sarutobi he saw that the Hokage gave a knowing smile to Naruto before speaking.

"Yes I know Naruto and I just came by to say goodbye to you." As he finished saying this he bent down and gave a big hug to Naruto.

Naruto returned the hug with as much emotion as he could manage with small tears dripping down his face. After finishing Naruto turned away from Sarutobi and took Jin's hand as he began walking towards the gate again.

As Jin was closing in on the gate he saw Sarutobi's smile change to an expression of indifference directed towards him. Passing the old man he heard him say something in a tone only he could hear.

"You better not to hurt that poor boy anymore than he already has been."

Jin could only smile an amused smile before replying "Someone should have told you that old man."

As the footsteps of the two began to fade away the old man took off his hat and rubbed his head. He turned and looked at the carving of the fourth on the side of the mountain with one thought gracing his mind at the moment.

'_That man…'_

**Alright everyone that's the end of chapter 1 tell me what think. Is it good or bad? I tried to get Naruto's mindset to that of a four year the best I could (that's why some of the descriptions were lacking). As for the Kenshin styles I don't know how many I'll use but I did drop a hint as to the first one.**

**Anyway review and thanks for reading.**

**As for what'll happen next chapter Naruto and Jin will be making there way to where Jin lives with some action thrown in.**


	2. Naruto and Jin 2:His Past Revealed

**Hey everybody I'm back with the second chapter. Anyway what's in store this time you ask? Well you're just going to have to wait and find out cause the first arc of my story has a little more to go. Yay. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ruroni Kenshin **

Chapter 2

Not used to having company on his trips Jin left Konoha at his usual pace expecting Naruto to keep up. Hearing the occasional grunt of pain from behind him Jin turned around spotting Naruto behind him trying to keep up. Sighing slightly Jin slowed down allowing Naruto to catch up to him.

It wasn't that Naruto couldn't keep up with the pace, he often used a fast pace himself not wanting to linger in the streets of Konoha anymore then he had to. It's just that his feet kept getting cut up by the various objects in the road. Still not wanting to complain so soon to his new caretaker Naruto decided to grin and bear it trudging behind as best he could.

Noticing Jin slowing down Naruto smiled at the older man thinking to himself _'Jin's slowing down maybe he's getting tired? Maybe if I ask him he'll take a rest… but what if he gets mad? I don't want to make him mad, but my feet are hurting real bad, besides Jin's been nice to me'._

Gathering his courage Naruto turned to Jin and asked "hey Jin?"

"Yeah."

A little unnerved by his monotone response Naruto pressed on with his question.

"Can we rest a little bit, my feet hurt." Naruto said looking up hopeful that Jin would stop.

Jin turned and looked down at little Naruto and flashed him a grin. Seeing this Naruto couldn't help but grin back happy that he could stop walking for a short while.

"Not a chance." Jin said with that grin still plastered on his face.

Naruto's smile turned into a frown then into a scowl looking at Jin he yelled "WHAT!? WHY NOT!?"

Jin looked thoughtful for a moment trying to come up with a satisfying excuse. Snapping his fingers he turned to Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Well the reason is if we stop I won't want to move again and since all my gear is at the place where going we can't camp out here." As Jin finished he nodded his head.

"Um…why" Naruto asked his scowl gone replaced with curiosity.

"Oh in case things got out of hand in Konoha and I had to get away quick, carrying all that would slow me down." As he finished saying this he winked at Naruto and fixed his attention on the road again.

Naruto let those words sink in. What did Jin mean 'in case things got out of hand'? He seemed like a nice enough person. Then again… that guy in the bar did seem rather jumpy when he saw Jin. _'It was probably Jin's sword'_ yeah that's it that has to be it. Even in Konoha Naruto had never seen anyone, unless they were a ninja, carry a sword._ 'Hey does that mean Jin's a ninja? That would be so COOL! He could teach me all kinds of neat ninja tricks then nobody would want to mess with me!'_

Naruto's eyes sparkled as he thought up fantastic thoughts about the man next to him. Turning towards Jin he tugged on his sleeve needing to have his fantasies confirmed.

Jin was whistling a tune when he felt something tug on his coat arm. Looking down at Naruto his whistling suddenly stopped when he saw that sparkle in his eye. _'The hell? No one's eyes should sparkle that much'_ Jin thought to himself a little unnerved.

"Um… yeah?" As Jin said this he slowly removed Naruto's hand off his coat.

"Jin are you some kind of ninja." Naruto said as he grabbed onto Jin's coat sleeve again.

"I have to say I'm curious as to how you came up with that idea." Jin replied curiously.

"Well I suppose it was your sword, the only people I've ever seen carry them are the ninja that the old man would call when the villagers wouldn't leave me alone." Naruto's grin faded into sad smile as he finished his statement.

Jin lifted his head a little "ah… that makes sense, and for your information no I'm not a ninja I just know how to use a sword."

Naruto looked at Jin quizzically "What do you mean 'that makes sense'"

Jin crossed his arms "Well Konoha is a shinobi village meaning that almost all your options in learning how to fight rely on you becoming a shinobi yourself. Even then you're not guaranteed to learn a style that's worthwhile since most high powered techniques are known by a specific clan. Don't even get me started on Kekkei Genkai abilities."

Naruto tilted his head to side not understanding why ninja were like that.

"How come they can't just share?"

Jin sighed. "Well that one is a little harder to explain. Sometimes you can't even learn the technique unless you were born in that family."

"What do mean by that Jin."

"Don't interrupt its bad manners. Anyway what I mean is some particular clans have a special ability that's unique to them these are called Kekkei Genkai. This allows them to develop techniques and styles that only they can use. It's because of this other clan's keep they're techniques closely guarded secrets in order to try and compete. That's not to say that they don't share they do have some universal techniques and what not."

"Well how come they can't share the techniques that everyone can learn then Jin?"

"Well when it comes right down to it what usually matters to a ninja most are his clan, his village, or himself not in that particular order or particularly all three. Though that's enough questioning for now its getting dark and we still have a little bit to go. Come here and I'll carry you the rest of the way." When Jin finished the statement he bent down and picked Naruto up.

Resting his head against Jin's shoulder Naruto couldn't help but marvel at all the knowledge Jin gave him. Though that only led to more questions. How did Jin know so much about ninja? He said he wasn't one himself but indicated that he knew how to use a sword. Never finishing his thoughts Naruto didn't realize how tired he was and soon fell asleep.

Jin was tired; he was really tired this trip had taken more time than he thought. _'Why am I taking so long to get there again'_ Jin thought to himself, Suddenly something shifted on Jin's shoulder _'aw that's right little guy fell asleep…bastard'_.

Though he had to admit to himself after Naruto had fallen asleep the trip just seemed to pass by. Before he knew it he arrived at the small inn he would always stay at when he needed to come to Konoha.

Too tired to do anything else he made his way up to his room. Putting Naruto on the bed and covering him he then proceeded to take off his jacket and sword and plopped on the couch closing his eyes till sleep overcame him.

_He was running for his life this time the entire population of Konoha was chasing him. _

_He couldn't lose them, every turn he made he was cut off every place he hid someone seemed to find him. _

_They were catching up to him; he didn't know where to turn. Out of desperation he rounded the next corner. _

_Suddenly it stopped, everything was gone he was in complete darkness. _

_Then he found himself falling. It seemed like he fell for days, weeks, years he lost track of time. _

_After what seemed like an eternity he saw it a pair of eyes below him. He was looking at fear itself terrified beyond belief he never noticed the grin that appeared after the eyes. _

_Its massive maw opened. The boy screamed but no noise escaped he continued to fall. _

Naruto woke up in a cold sweat clutching his bear close to his chest. Staring straight ahead he examining the unfamiliar surroundings he frantically tried to figure out where he was. Spotting a sleeping figure on the couch Naruto tried to make out the person's face. Slowing crawling out of bed he tip toed his way across the floor. He reached the couch slowly angled his head around and saw Jin drooling a little on his pillow.

Letting out the breath that he was holding Naruto was relieved to find that yesterdays events did indeed happen. Walking to the window he opened the curtains to see that the sun was just starting to come up.

Hearing a cracking sound Naruto turned around to see Jin sitting up on the couch stretching. Jin started to rub his eyes. Shortly after Jin stood up and looked around the room, noticing Naruto by the open window looking out he saw the sun start to rise.

"Morning Naruto" Jin said rubbing his shoulder.

Naruto grinned and said "Morning Jin."

Just as Jin got up and put his coat on there was a knock on the door.Opening the door he was greeted to the sight of a small plump woman with graying hair and a small round face that had a caring smile on it.

"Good morning Jin-san." She nodded as she held out a tray of food. "I thought you and your little friend would be hungry after your trip last night."

"Ah Miyamoto-san thanks but how did you know I wasn't alone last night?" Jin asked accepting the food.

The old woman chuckled slightly and waved Jin off before walking back down the hallway.

"If I spent my life studying her I still wouldn't be able to understand that women." Jin said to no one in particular.

Closing the door Jin placed the tray of food on the bed.

"Go on and eat up Naruto I got to get my things packed for the trip back."

Naruto looked to the food then back at Jin then to the food again. _'Well he did say eat up if he wanted some he would have said so right?'_ With that Naruto attacked the food.

Jin checked over the equipment to make sure everything was ready to go. He got out his map and tried plotting the best route in order to get back home. _'Well going my normal route with Naruto means a harsher trip with more walking, but more nuke-nin are showing up in Rice Field country. Hmm… either treacherous terrain or ninja eh the ninja are easier to deal with'. _

Turning around looking at Naruto patting his overstuffed stomach Jin looked at the tray of food and saw that only a piece of toast was left hiding his annoyance he approached the bed intent on not letting him have that last piece of toast.

"Damn kid where'd you put it all?" Jin said snatching up the last piece of toast.

Naruto sighed happily standing up.

"I don't know just hungry I guess."

Jin sweat dropped _'Just hungry JUST HUNGRY THAT LITTLE BASTARD ATE MY SHARE OF THE FOOD! Alright Jin calm down calm down it's not his fault he didn't know besides you can wait till the next town.' _

"Hey Jin what are we going to do today?"

Broken from his thoughts Jin turned to Naruto "huh oh… well I figure we'll make our way to Rice Field Country to the port town, and once we get there we'll hop on a boat and head over to Lightning Country. However first we need to make it to the next village."

Naruto gave a nod.

"Jin I've been meaning to ask you where you live."

"Lightning Country… it's a nice enough place. You're ready to go right?" Jin said as he placed a neat stack of bills on the table.

Naruto grabbed his bear and just gave Jin a nod and started heading for the door.

Jin grabbed his pack and walked down to the lobby with Naruto. Reaching the door Naruto noticed that only the old women from before seemed to be around. Seeing her gaze shift to him Naruto felt a little uncomfortable until he saw her give him a warm smile. Too surprised to do anything Naruto just continued walking out with Jin.

Seeing the small interaction between the two Jin chuckled before turning to the old woman and gave her a small wave.

On the road Naruto couldn't be happier. It was a new day, it was nice out, and he could question Jin again now that they were on the road. Not wasting any time he tugged on Jin's jacket sleeve.

Jin merely gave a 'hmm' in response.

"Jin who was that old lady, what's it like in Lightning Country, how do know so much about ninja, what it is like in the next village we're going to…"

"Slow…" Jin tried to get the child next to him to slow down with his questions, but it was to no avail.

"Tell me about your sword…"

"Hold…" now snapping his fingers in front of the boy, like a dog, Naruto kept on with the questions.

"Isn't it to hot to wear a coat out today?"

His patience gone Jin resorted to drastic measures. Turning his hand into a fist he raised his fist up and brought it down right on Naruto's head.

BONK!!!

"SLOW DOWN WILL YA!! You're going to fast." Jin removed his fist from the boy's head only to see a small bump form.

Naruto grasped his head, looking at Jin, a scowl formed on his face and tears threatened to escape from his eyes.

"WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND HIT ME YOU BIG MEANIE!"

Jin held his ground looking Naruto square in the eye. Then he turned back to the road and shrugged.

"What'd you want me to do? I tried to stop you but you just kept on and on. Besides I didn't hit that hard, I mean look the bump's already gone."

Ruffling his hair and smiling at him he asked "so what'd you want to ask me."

Naruto's scowl soon turned into his foxy grin and he began to nod his head. "Ok who was that nice old lady?"

Jin put his hand under his chin trying to think up the best way to answer this question. "Well what I do know is that she used to some big shot up in Earth Country, something happened involving her husband. After that she moved out here and opened up that little inn. Other then that I don't know much about her, she's a nice enough lady from what I've seen of her, but I've never had a conversation with her before, she just leaves me to my own devices."

Seeing Jin stop Naruto took that as a sign to continue with his questioning. "Um what's the next village going to be like?"

"It's a small little place out of the way we'll stay there for a day and get you some clothes and a nice bath ok?"

Having his curiosity satisfied for now he was content with walking and enjoying the scenery.

Several hours of walking later, Naruto collapsed on the sleeping bag set out for him. Sleeps overtaking him, Naruto's last thoughts were on how happy he'd been these last couple of days.

Jin slumped against a tree and sighed, whoever was following him was decent but they gave him far too little credit. _'Damn… they move like pros. Must've paid big bucks to get this kind of help, ah well least I can do is give them a warm welcome.' _

Standing up Jin dusted himself off and in the direction he felt the pursuers come from. Upon leaving a clone of him blurred into existence and resumed sitting against the tree.

A squad of ANBU was jumping from tree to tree, it was a simple enough mission find the fox child who had left the village, take him to the ANBU interrogation chambers, and kill any individuals with him. Heading out the next day they picked up the target's trail a little after mid-day, it appeared one was traveling with the target at a decent walking pace. Thinking about all this the ANBU Captain couldn't help but feel uneasy. There was something wrong with this mission something important he should know.

A noise, not to distinguishable from the speed they were traveling but off enough to be heard. Signaling for his team to stop he turned around at an impressive speed what he saw sent a chill down his spine.

Several trees back where he first heard the noise he him. There he stood coat shifting in the breeze the moonlight shining on his hair his right foot stood atop the body of Bear his katana dripping the blood of his victim. Yet what stood out most was his eyes, they seemed to be glowing one blue the other a reddish brown.

The ANBU Captain prided himself on only being truly afraid once in his life. The moment in history that the village of Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi no Kitsune. During that time he felt like his heart would stop from the bloodlust that came off of the monsters body. This was different; it was focused it felt like a vice was squeezing his heart. Seeing the figure kick Bear's body to darkness below that vice grip on his heart was slowly loosening, quickly he signaled for his team to retreat into the darkness.

Before he got the signal off, however, Hawk had charged the figure.

"Dammit Hawk retreat."

Clearing the distance in less than a second Hawk pulled out his sword intending to take the figures head clean off.

Sidestepping the attack the figure took hold of Hawk's throat before bringing his katana and slice into his glove.

Looking on the ANBU Captain watched in wonder and terror as Hawk was engulfed in an explosion. Holding on to the bloody stump that used to have Hawk's head connected to it, the figure threw his corpse to join Bear.

Turning to look at Cat the ANBU Captain was greeted with the visage of a shaking teammate.

"Cat we're retreating NOW!"

Turning around preparing to retreat the ANBU Captain's face connected with a fist. Shattering his mask the force of the punch knocked him threw one tree and lodged him in the next.

His back broken his nose shattered the ANBU Captain was losing consciousness fast taking one last look at the figure he saw him bring his sword around him sparking it on his sheathe. The top half of the sword burst into flame, bringing the sword back the ANBU Captain saw as he cleaved Cat in half.

"That technique" and with that the Captain blacked out.

Slowly opening his eyes, finding it hard to breathe, Kenji took in his surroundings. He found himself on the forest floor, trying to move his arms Kenji felt resistance with this action. Hearing a small rustling he turned his head and found the figure from before walking toward him.

"Nice night isn't it ANBU-san?"

Struggling harder then before Kenji was desperate, he needed to escape. He never believed the stories the old ANBU talked about in the barracks. He merely dismissed it as a side effect of getting old. Yet here he was, a man with one blue and one brown eye. A sword that came to life with fire by applying friction to it, a man that many thought could only be bested by the fourth himself.

"Don't bother ANBU-san you're not going anywhere with the condition your back is in, now lets get down to business."

Trying to crush his suicide vial in his mouth he found only a gap between his teeth. Seeing the figure smiling at him he held out a small object no bigger than a molar.

"Looking for this? Heh you underestimate me ANBU-san. Though at least you know you aren't going to survive this night, but the only question is… will it be fast and painless or slow and painful."

Weighing his options Kenji was in a lose/lose situation. On the one hand if he gave in and answered the man he would be betraying his comrades and shame his family name. On the other hand if this man is half as vicious as the stories say then his last moments will seem like an eternity. Either way he was fucked.

Taking a seat on a stump the figure sat down; getting himself comfortable the man began his interrogation.

"Alright ANBU-san let's start with what I do know you're from Konoha that's for sure, however, I don't know who sent you. None of the people I know from Fire Country have the type of connections to hire your kind. That means that you got your orders from the top, now tell me ANBU-san who sent you."

Kenji thought fast. Too little an answer he didn't want to see what this guy did, too much of an answer well… he still had some sense of loyalty.

"The head of the ANBU division sent us."

Standing up and walking toward Kenji, the man unsheathed his sword. Full of terror Kenji tried to force his body to move. Watching as he brought his sword above his head, Kenji closed his eyes waiting for what would happen.

After several seconds on nothing Kenji opened his eyes to see the figure sitting back against the stump. Checking his body over for anything he noticed that his leg had a new gash in it.

Looking at him with relief and confusion Kenji desperately tried to figure out his game, as if reading his mind the man answered Kenji's unspoken question.

"ANBU-san I don't believe you to be telling the truth. To counter this I've decided to cut deeper and deeper every time I believe you to be lying to me. You're probably not feeling it to much, but that's okay that's only part of what's going to happen. I was never much of a torturer till the war. Funny thing, war, you know? It forced to do things that I normally I would never consider doing. Ah but I'm rambling aren't I, let me tell what's going to happen. With every cut I make the smell of your blood will get stronger and stronger. Don't know what kind of animal it'll attract, though I do here Fire Countries woods are famous for its wolves. Now I'll ask you again who sent you."

Sweating bullets Kenji's mind was in a state of shutdown. It didn't function like he wanted it to it just kept creating images of himself getting viciously torn apart by random animals.

"We were sent here by…" before Kenji could finish he was cut off.

"Did Danzo send you?" The man said looking up at the night sky.

Kenji's eyes widened. Out of all the things he could have said this is the absolute last one he expected.

"Don't look so surprised ANBU-san me and Danzo go way back. Who do think took his arm?"

If Kenji's eyes could've been wider they would have. If he had any doubts before they were doused by this shocking revelation. The old ANBU would talk of the other stories every so often to those that would listen, but when they were drunk enough there lips would loosen telling things that would make even the most seasoned ANBU shutter. They told stories of a village referred to them as a 'meat grinder' when asked what that meant they merely scoffed and said "If I told you'd piss yourself" after that most would just leave. Though those who stayed got to here of the so called 'guardians' of this village, seven swordsmen who's skills were so great that both Iwa and Konoha labeled the place a 'dead zone'.

They talked of Iwa's mistake of trying to take the village by force costing them severe casualties. Of Konoha trying to take it as strategic point only to have the eight squads disappear without a trace, it got to the point were Danzo-sama himself took several of his finest men and lead an operation himself. He was found three days later half dead missing an arm muttering about a devil swordsman whose sword sparked with the flames of hell.

It was then he muttered something he wish he didn't "The Devil Sword."

The man's once cheerful demeanor fell, replaced once again with the look he donned when first encountered by the ANBU.

"Yes that's right they called me that, you're kind gave me that name because I protected those people from you. Both sides hated me because I made sure they didn't get what they wanted. Just because your ninja makes you think anything you do is ok that no one is going to tell you otherwise. You called me devil because I said no I said it wasn't ok. It doesn't matter anymore anyway, your assassination failed and I doubt I'll be setting foot anywhere near Konoha again."

With that Devil Sword Jin turned and started walking back toward camp leaving Kenji to his fate.

Watching Jin leave Kenji began trying to think up ways to survive the night and possibly get rescued by patrols in the morning.

Too lost in his thoughts Kenji never noticed the five shadows approaching him.

The only thing Jin heard to confirm the man's fate were his screams.

Reaching camp Jin found that his clone had started to drift off. Dispelling it as he approached he resumed his position sitting against the tree watching Naruto's chest rise and fall.

**Hey all there's chapter 2 I intended it to be longer but I decided to plan out the last half of the first arc. **

**Anyway for some things that people may find off. **

**I don't know if Danzo lost his arm recently or before truth is I haven't gotten that far in the Manga and I don't think they showed him in the Anime yet. **

**If it was later then that then consider this an Alternate Universe aspect. **

**Also for the ANBU if you think they got killed to easy what went through my mind when I wrote that fight was this. ANBU are supposed to be the best of the best getting ambushed is not something they do when they did however they just froze. This allotted enough time for Jin to get his killing intent off. After that they just lost there heads with fear and in the case of Hawk rage take over. **

**As for Jin yes he suffers from the all OC's that raise Naruto are badass, however, I have big plans for him that will not involve him being an unstoppable force. **

**Also saw the Zoro vs Kaku fight in One Piece badass**

**Last thing could somebody tell me how many years between the Kyuubi attack and the war where Kakashi got the Sharingan. **

**Lastly read and review I'm open to constructive criticism because I want to make the story enjoyable for everyone. **


	3. Naruto and Jin 3:So thats who he is

**Hey everybody I'm back with chapter 3. Only one or two more chapters before Naruto start's learning to fight (Yay).**

**Anyway let's get on with chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ruroni Kenshin (Though the Kenshin elements aren't shown yet) I'm just writing a story for peoples entertainment.**

Slowly cracking one eye open light began to flood his vision, he allowed his eyes to adjust before sitting up and stretching.

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon. He loved this time of the day, it was during this short time he would momentarily forget where he was, what awaited him during the day. His eyes rested on Jin and soon a smile graced his small face. This time he wasn't depressed at his position, he wasn't in the village anymore, he was with a person who offered to care for him and that was enough.

"Morning Jin" Naruto said, rubbing some sleep from his eyes.

"Hmm…yeah morning kid, you sleep well?" Jin responded packing his gear.

"Yup!"

Jin smirked, "That's good cause were be moving faster today."

Naruto blinked "what?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping we can hit town by noon get some items then get into Rice Field Country in less than three days, that fine to you."

Naruto nodded his head in compliance.

Hardly any words were spoken between the two while they traveled. Trying many times to strike up a conversation Naruto was mostly met with one word answers. Not quite sure what to do in the situation Naruto lagged behind a little and remained silent.

'_Did I do something wrong? Jin wasn't like this yesterday, but I don't remember doing anything to make him mad.'_ Losing track of time pondering Jin's strange behavior Naruto never noticed the town coming into view. Bumping into Jin he looked up at the man.

"We're here." Jin said with a hint of relief in his voice.

Looking where 'here' was Naruto lifted his head. The town looked nice enough, but Naruto knew better he had often thought the same thing viewing Konoha from atop the Hokage monument. He didn't realize a small frown appearing on his face.

Jin was relieved at the moment. Having spent the trip making sure no one was following them Jin would've liked nothing better then to relax for a while. However he still had something to do before then. Turning to his young charge he noticed the frown on his face.

Putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder Jin asked "Hey, something wrong?"

Dropping his frown, Naruto turned towards Jin and smiled "Nope!"

Jin merely nodded his head not really believing him. Walking on with him, they entered town.

Feeling uneasy Naruto moved closer to Jin. Having no other experience than his life in Konoha, Naruto expected it to be the same here.

Feeling something against his sleeve Jin looked down to find Naruto's eyes darting back and fourth. _'Damn kid's jumpy… shit is he scared?'_

Once again placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder he looked down at him.

"Hey don't worry nothing bad is gonna happen alright."

He knew it wasn't the best thing to say, but it seemed to have the desired effect. Naruto stopped trying to rip his coat sleeve off and started becoming more relaxed.

Patting him on the head they continued on. _'Just have to find a place for the night.'_

Walking on Jin couldn't help but notice the small skip Naruto seemed to have while walking; unconsciously smiling Jin was glad the boy seemed to have that vibrant energy he had when he first started traveling with him.

Continuing through town he was taking in all the little differences between here and Konoha. Everyone in Konoha was always fast in a hurry, they always seemed to want to get there business done fast it seemed as if the place was always covered with an invisible fog of tension.

This place was different. The place seemed more… relaxed. That fog of tension replaced with a much calmer feeling. This also struck Naruto as odd; every time he would make eye contact with someone he would not receive glares. No some would ignore him, yet some would smile at him. Not sure how to react to this he gave small smiles back.

Completely baffled at how much one place could be completely different from another Naruto could only walk.

Continuing the walk they eventually walked into one of the nicer buildings. The main area they walked into could be described as quaint. Even the woman behind the desk seemed old fashioned.

Walking up to it Jin wasted no time. Pulling out a nice stack of cash he laid it down on the desk.

"We'll take your nicest room." The tone Jin used was one that said 'don't ask just give'.

Staring wide eyed at the pile before her, the woman merely nodded and handed Jin a key.

Taking it Naruto and Jin made there way to the room. Opening it up Naruto made a move to sit on the bed, while Jin went over and placed his pack in the corner. Turning around Jin began going for the door.

"Hey Naruto I've got something to take care it shouldn't take longer then a couple hours, until then stay here."

He continued on his way until Naruto stood and yelled.

"Hey wait! You're not gonna leave me are you?"

At this Jin turned around. "Nah kid don't worry, I'll be back. Besides this'll give you a chance to take a shower and clean up. Tell you what after I get back we'll go out and get you some clothes and food."

Naruto's worried expression gradually left his face "O-Ok then I'll wait for you."

With that Jin turned to leave, waving his hand Jin's last words were

"You better take that shower."

The door to the room closed and Jin was off.

Quickly picking up his pace Jin hurried though the streets of town. It wasn't so much a need to get back to Naruto as it was a need to get the information and get out. The information that could be gathered in this town was rather sparse, unless it had to do with Konoha itself. Yet that's what made the info so expensive, like trying to find a buyer for that rare picture you're trying to sell to most people its crap but to the right guy it's a fortune.

Not that Jin didn't have the means to pay; it's just that the damn informant was always such a prick. Granted if anyone had a right to be he did, he would always get caught up in the most unlucky situations, on the wrong side, on the worst day, with the worst weather. That's how he got most of his information listening in on something he shouldn't, picking up something he shouldn't, when you questioned him about it he would start bitching about random things. Granted the first time you see it, it's kind of funny.

From Jin's experience all his information was reliable; the major problem was just dealing with the guy. Ever since he started selling the stuff he tried to keep himself busy with booze, the problem with that is it just made things worse.

At least it made him easy to find. Walking down one the seedier alleys Jin walked up to a door that had the word bar on it, the door itself seemed like it would collapse with the merest push. Smiling slightly Jin pushed open the door.

It had been quite a while since the last time he came into to this joint, and now he remembered why. Assaulting his nostrils Jin fought back the urge to gag. Shaking his head slightly he looked around. Same old dirty bar, the chairs and tables looking like they had been made from rotten wood.

Watching the cockroaches scurry along the floor chased by that same stupid starving cat Jin made his way across the room. Since it was still early afternoon most of the regulars weren't around yet. There were still some of the early crowd, the kind of people that never wanted to go back to life.

Like a predator stalking its prey Jin made his way through the bar looking for the informant. There he was in the corner nursing a bottle. Jin looked at the pitiful sight before him, a man with information that most would kill him for, dressed in rags and just as dirty as Naruto was when Jin found him.

Not really paying attention he never noticed the man in the black coat take a seat next to him, but if he did he probably would've run as fast as he could if he realized that Devil Sword Jin was back.

Plopping down next to him without making a sound, Jin grinned like a Cheshire Cat. Resting his face on his hand Jin turned towards the man.

"Yo." It was a simple greeting nothing big, but the results were quite amusing to Jin.

His eyes widening at the sound of the voice he turned his head frantically looking for the source of it. There they were those eyes; he would've traded anything in the world as long as he never had to see those eyes again. He wanted to shout to scream 'get away from me', but he froze eventually when he did find his voice he described his situation at the moment perfectly.

"Fuck me." He said it low as not to attract attention. Last time he made a scene Jin ended up cracking his jaw something fierce, needless to say he didn't want a repeat.

"Now, now that's not quite the greeting I was looking for." Jin was calm about it, he didn't want to be here anymore then he had to.

Leaning in close to Jin the man said "Listen you son of a bitch, I know what you're here for, so let's get this over with you know my price."

Obliging Jin reached into his coat, the man looked on in anticipation he may not have liked Jin but he always paid very well. Instead of the wad of cash he was expecting Jin took out a katana, his eyes widening for the second time that day he was ready to book out of the there.

"This will be you're payment." Jin's tone left little room to argue with.

Quite startled it was then he realized that Jin was holding out the sword to him. Very slowly he reached out his hand and took it. Examining it closely he began realizing that this weapon seemed very familiar. He couldn't quite place it he had seen this before, but the only weapon he ever saw that was worth remembering was the Devil Sword's own weapon. The only other ones he saw were ANBU katana and they all… looked… the… same.

"Fuck me." Again with phrase he let go of the sword like it was fire.

Sure these swords were always exceptional quality, only real competition came from master swordsmen, but these were military issue weapons. Illegal to posses punishable by death military issue weapons. Punishable by death mostly because one of the only ways to get one was to kill an ANBU ninja.

Yet to pull one out so casually and offer it as payment for information? Something big must've gone down; Jin's practically admitted committing murder. Shit he just wanted get out of here quick and move somewhere where no one knew him; this situation just went in a direction that he hated to go down.

Sighing heavily he said "What do you need to know?"

"Better… I need to know what Danzo and his boys are up to."

'_FUCK, he certainly knows how to hit it out of the ball park.'_ If he'd known this would've happened he would've slit his wrists that morning. As scary as Jin was Danzo could do far more frightening things in terms of pain. At the moment, however, Danzo was not here no Jin was cursing his shitty luck he gave in.

"Last night some ANBU boys came into the joint, at least I thought they were carried themselves with that 'fuck with me and I'll kill' attitude. Of course they happened to take the table right next to mine. Don't know if they were Danzo's men though even drunk they don't mention names. They do, however, let there lips loose when there drunk…dumb fucks." With this last statement the informant laughed.

"Anyway they had to many started talking 'bout how Hokage went and fucked things up and let the boss's weapon leave the village, wondering when he'd send out a team to retrieve it. After that they started talking 'bout a damn fox won't know what hit him. That's the most I could gather from it anyway." Finishing his story he took a long hard swig from the bottle he was still nursing.

Not exactly getting the answer he wanted it did provide enough information for Jin to deduce that those Root guys weren't after him. Trying to push for more info Jin continued on.

"Wait, wait, wait what the fuck does a fox have to do with anything?"

"I don't know that's what they said." Sitting up straighter he knew Jin was getting frustrated, he just hated it when that happened.

"Come you have to know something, fox is a new one even to me." Jin started tapping his finger on the table that bastard wasn't telling him something and he knew it.

"Alright, alright just calm the fuck down will ya? 'Bout five years ago Konoha was attacked and I don't mean the normal kind of attack I mean the 'what the fuck did we do to deserve this kind of attack' anyway they say it was a demon."

At hearing this Jin's eyes widened considerably.

"You mean to tell me the strongest village in the five nations was attacked, by a demon no less, and no one heard about it!?" This was simply mind boggling to Jin, this shit was big it had to be how in the hell did they keep this hush hush?

"Hey man shut the fuck up this is the kind of shit that's get you killed in the bad kind of way. Yes no one heard about it, took quite a bit to pull it off though. Shit load of people had to be killed others restricted from leaving Konoha, that kind of shit. Anyway biggest problem was coming up with a story, you don't just let you're village get its ass kicked without a good excuse right?" Pausing to take another swig from his bottle the man was starting to get anxious telling this info.

Jin was pretty impressed Konoha had managed not only to cover up not one demon catastrophe but two? Quickly shaking his thoughts away from the past he quickly regained his composure.

"Not to mention explaining how Konoha's Yellow Flash the greatest ninja to ever live only to be truly bested once in combat, by you no less, was killed."

Again Jin's eyes, that guy dead? Incredible indeed he had fought him once; he was the second best he ever fought his strength and skill made Jin think that guy would last forever. Yet it all made sense the most powerful military on the continent hiding the truth about they were butchered by a demon. If any of the other countries knew they'd have started a war the second day after the attack.

"What the fuck?" Jin wasn't prone to cuss ever but this was one of the few exceptions.

"Yeah I hear you man, keeps me up at night. Anyway the official story was that Arashi wanted to establish good relations with the west and decided to go on an ambassador mission, taking plenty of good men with him. Granted almost no one cared, except all the other Kage's. Every other country immediately knew something was up, sent spies up the ass to check it out. Most of them went home in body bags and the ones that did make it back all reported that is was true. Even with him gone most countries thought twice about attacking with the 'Professor' in charge."

"Wait a minute; what about the landscape and the fact that Konoha had several ninjas get an early retirement?" Remembering back Jin was furious how Konoha just blamed the destruction on the war, and again he got sidetracked refocusing he turned back to the informant.

"Well the landscape was just replaced with jutsu, it was the 'Professor's' idea it worked remarkably well. As for the dead ninja several were said to have gone with Arashi and the others dead from botched missions. Most of the other countries just rubbed that one off damn fools." Finishing off the bottle the man realized he was almost finished with the incident. He just had to wait for the last question to be asked.

"What happened to the demon?"

'_There it is'_ he thought to himself.

"Well Arashi couldn't kill the demon so he did the next best thing… he sealed into a newborn."

This time Jin was shocked, this was new even to him he waited as he continued on.

"Arashi wanted the kid to be viewed as the hero who saved the village gotta say he dropped the fuckin' ball big time on that one." Letting out a laugh before bursting into a fit of coughs, finishing he continued on.

"So he tells the 'Professor' let them know what happened to give the village some hope or some bullshit like that, really stupid if you ask me your trying to hide what happened yet they let everyone know how the demon got taken out… whatever. Bam he ends up dead the child is presented to the village, only things don't go as planned they want the kid dead. The 'Professor' don't know what to do usually he's always got the situation all planned out, and I bet if he was thinking straight he would've realized how stupid it was to tell the villagers in the first place." Taking a moment to catch his breath the informant shook his empty bottle to make sure it was all gone, confirming his suspicions he slammed it on the floor breaking it.

Sighing heavily he looked around and started to notice more people coming in; _'I'd better finish this now the crowds startin' to come in'._

"Anyway hearing this, the 'Professor' was to say the least pissed. Decreeing it law to never hear it heard in public under penalty of death, granted if they were smart they would've made it a law anyway. After that the village took out most of its rage on the kid, everyone hated the poor little bastard I heard and that's it. That's pretty much how it happened how the most powerful hidden village was made into a shell of its former self. There you go that's all I got now leave me be." With that he put his head on the table and closed his eyes.

Jin looked at him for a few moments, indeed he was used to the treachery of the ninja militaries this wasn't the first time he stumbled on to this kind of information its just he hasn't had to deal with it for years.

After a few seconds it dawned on him _'If they weren't after me then… ah hell they want the kid!'_

Getting up quickly Jin was about to pick up the ANBU katana when the informant grabbed his wrist. Picking his head off the table he turned to Jin.

"Hold on that sword is still my payment got that, and as much as I don't like ya I still owe a couple so here's something for free. Been hearing rumors of an Uchiha turning traitor heading north might wanna watch yourself." Finishing he let go of Jin's wrist and took the sword plopping next to his chair.

"Thanks." With that Jin left, not a sound not even a trace he was there.

Hurrying through the streets at a fast pace Jin was thinking to himself over what he just learned. _'Ok so the jackass sealed a demon into a kid thought it would all be okay and that's it? I guess another question would be who the hell would even allow there kid to have live with something like that?'_

Making it back to his room Jin walked in and greeted his new charge.

"Hey Naruto I'm back."

Hearing Jin's voice Naruto excitedly ran over to the man, quite happy that Jin would be pleased he listened to him… the response was not what he expected.

Jin stood there staring, just staring it was as if his brain had a meltdown. Then he started to laugh softly then louder until tears started forming in his eyes from laughing so hard.

'_OH MAN THIS IS TO RICH! HE LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM, AND HERE I AM SAYING I'LL TAKE CARE OF HIM! THE IRONY IS JUST TOO MUCH!' _Yet it was all there his blonde hair cleansed of the dirt and grime that made the color seem so much darker. The blue eyes, which Jin didn't think twice about at the time, then his face. It was times like these that Jin thought he should've been a blacksmith. It was to late now to ditch him anyway, besides Jin was starting to like him.

Naruto stood there pouting, he couldn't figure out why Jin was laughing other then at him. He did what Jin wanted and he didn't remember doing anything funny to warrant this kind of laughter. Then he started to get a little angry Jin was laughing at him for some reason and he wanted to know why.

"Hey why you laughin at me you jerk!" Naruto started to shake his fist at Jin.

Jin stopped laughing when he heard Naruto, then started again after seeing him shake his fist. Finishing he approached Naruto and ruffled his hair.

"Don't take it to personally you just remind me of someone I use to know."

Naruto crossed his and pouted.

Jin chuckled again. Then he turned towards the door again and started to walk.

Naruto looked at Jin's retreating form and lowered his head slightly.

Turning his head back Jin said "What're you waiting for? Let's get something to eat."

His head snapping up Naruto was at Jin's side in a flash. Smiling at each other they walked out of the room.

Not wanting to go anywhere fancy at the moment Jin decided on a simple ramen stand. Taking there seats Jin told Naruto get as much as you want… he would never say that again. After dinner, Jin was still baffled by the amount of food he could eat, they made there way over to a tailor.

Walking in Naruto was at a loss at what to do, he had never been clothes shopping before the only ones he ever had were the hand me downs the orphanage gave out.

Looking at Jin for advice he asked what to buy.

Sighing Jin walked up to the rack and took a plain black t-shirt looking it over he surmised it would fit Naruto. He did the same thing with pants and, as luck would have it, a pair of shoes. Paying for it all Jin had Naruto change in the store and allowed the clerk to dispose of his old rags.

Happy with new clothes Naruto was walking back to the room with Jin. Jin began telling him they would purchase him more clothing in Lightning Country he just didn't want to be bogged down anymore then he had to be on the trip back.

Making back to the room in the evening Naruto again thanked Jin for the day.

"Don't worry about it kid it was no big deal." Jin waved his hand dismissively.

"It was to me… this is… this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you." Naruto replied with a single tear streaming down his eye.

'_Heh… bastard getting all emotional at that. Well at least he won't have to put up with that village anymore.'_ Jin thought smiling softly at Naruto, Jin waved it off again saying it was nothing.

"Anyway kid its time for you to go to bed, were leaving early tomorrow got that?"

Naruto shook his head lying down in bed going to sleep.

That night Jin wouldn't get any sleep, sitting down looking out the window he kept wondering how he was going to deal with this situation.

'_Dammit… this situation just got more fucked up then it should be. Danzo wants the kid, does that mean the old Hokage knew it to? Maybe that's why he let me take him so easily from the village. If that's the case why did he send only one retrieval team, then again… he may not know who took and if that's the case he won't find out about the other one until were long out of the country.' _

Jarred from his thoughts Jin heard Naruto start to snore softly, smiling Jin couldn't help but feel bad for the kid.

'_Stupid Yellow Flash, you screwed your kid over real bad with this one. What the hell were you thinking? Now I gotta clean up your damn mess. In any case this kid's always going to have someone after him… can't do anything bout' that. I could train him I guess, that would mean turning him into a killer would he want that?'_

Shaking his head Jin didn't want to have to deal with this situation right now.

He decided he would deal with as it came.

**Sorry about how late this was, I've been cranking out school work non stop about to my degree. Don't worry though I'm still going with this.**

**Anyway I decided that I wanted Konoha to hide there situation with Kyuubi. Didn't give the exact specifics just general stuff. I'll elaborate on it later.**

**Also this chapter is kind of rushed so if theres any mistakes I missed sorry. **


	4. Naruto and Jin 4: Through Rice Country

**Hey everybody back again, sorry I haven't updated sooner it's just I'm about to get my degree and all that.**

**Anyway you know the drill. As for the whole conspiracy in chapter three I intend to elaborate on it later in the story**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ruroni Kenshin**

In Jin's mind morning had come all too early. Spending the night, awake, thinking upon his newly acquired information, Jin was just about ready to leave Naruto go back home and just write it up as another bad memory.

Yet he stayed, he had grown quite fond of the boy during the short time they traveled together. Sighing as he saw Naruto's chest rising and falling, Jin wondered what time it was seeing that it was four in the morning he decided to allow Naruto one more hour of sleep before they left.

Jin sighed again, he knew this wasn't a good idea. Giving Danzo even one second of slack was always a gamble against the odds, but he couldn't bring himself to wake Naruto so early.

Jin didn't realize he was packing, his mind was to busy figuring out his next move. _'By now Danzo's probably found what's left of his boys… most likely he'll send his best next. This time he won't take chances. If that's the case then I've got to travel half a days travel moving at a slow pace while being pursued by elite ninja, and to top it off I've still got Naruto to consider.'_

Naruto's eyes shot open at the sudden loud noise, scrambling around frantically he ended tangled in the blankets falling off the bed. With a loud 'oomph' Naruto found the room reversed as he fell off the bed. Noticing Jin standing around next to the window with an amused smile on his face Naruto quickly righted himself again.

Shaking his head a little, Naruto saw that Jin was more or less ready to go. _'Well Jin did say we would leave early'._

Still a bit tired Naruto decided to see if could get a little bit more sleep.

"Hey Jin are we leaving now?" It was a simple enough question.

"Yup, now get dressed I want to get into Rice Field Country today. After that it's only a boat ride and a small trek through Lightning Country to get to where I live." That amused smile never leaving his face.

Naruto groaned, he was still half asleep he didn't want to start traveling so early in the morning. Though he wasn't about to complain about it to Jin. Quietly resigning himself to his fate Naruto dressed himself and grabbed his bear then walked with Jin out of the hotel.

Finally having woken up after being hit with the fresh morning air Naruto once again thought it was to early. The town itself was still asleep, the only ones that seemed to be awake were the few shop owners that opened at this hour.

Looking up at Jin, Naruto thought he looked a bit tired himself. _'Jin looks tired… how come he made us leave so early if he's still tired'._

"Hey Jin why are we leaving so early?" Tugging on Jin's coat sleeve making sure he got his attention.

Jin turned to look at Naruto.

"Wanted to get into the next country before sundown, but that means we'll have to move fast okay?"

Naruto nodded his head. He was fine with it, after all he's had to wake up earlier when the caretakers in the orphanage decided it was time for a beating.

Jin had other thoughts in his mind. He kept trying to come up with the best way to deal with the next set of pursuers. Sure they had some time on them but at the rate they were moving he was sure they would catch up before they could cross the border. Several thoughts passed through his mind. For now he resigned himself to carrying Naruto and moving faster.

Naruto felt himself being lifted off the ground, at first he panicked but relaxed just as soon when he realized it was Jin. Sitting on someone's shoulders was a new experience to him no one had even held him before, unless they were going to hit him but he didn't count that. It was a pleasant feeling, he liked the new perspective he got seeing the world from the 'top'. He was so enamored by it he didn't register Jin's words until Jin started tapping his knee.

Looking down at Jin's black hair Naruto gave a small noise indicating he heard him.

"Hey Naruto hang on tight, don't want you falling off now." Jin chuckled when he finished.

Naruto was wondering what he meant when suddenly he was jerked, Nearly falling off Naruto wrapped his arms around Jin's forehead as Jin's running speed was increasing.

Jin decided this was the best way to travel after putting some thought into it. Sure he would be rather tired later but at least they would be able get into Rice Field Country quicker. Granted his speed was just a run, he thought about going faster but having Naruto cut off some the blood to his head made him think twice.

Naruto was having fun. He was a bit disappointed, however, that he couldn't talk to Jin. It was alright though, Naruto figured that when Jin stopped running they could again begin conversation. Naruto still had many questions, most of which involved Jin. He really was grateful that Jin took him away from the village, but just a small part so tiny you couldn't find it even if you looked for it, wanted to stay. He had hoped that could become a ninja, seeing that most villagers held them in high regard Naruto was hoping they would to if he became one.

Thinking about it now, however, Naruto realized he didn't really need to be one anymore. Having experienced what it likes outside Konoha Naruto was beginning to think that maybe Konoha was just a bad village.

Whatever the case was, he was happier then he had ever been in his life.

Jin's thoughts were not so pleasant. Constantly worried about an enemy that he didn't even know was following them. Though so far it didn't seem like anyone was following them, then it hit like a sack of bricks. One factor Jin didn't calculate in, if the Hokage let the kid leave so easy it wouldn't be to farfetched that he knew what Danzo was planning. If that were the case then maybe he had, at the very least, delayed that second retrieval team.

No Jin couldn't place all of this on an unknown x-factor, after all the 'Professor' was also apart of that attack so long ago. Shaking that last thought out of his head he continued on the path determined to get out of Fire Country as fast as he could.

It was during the afternoon when the two crossed the border. Jin instantly became relieved, but continued on nonetheless he wouldn't pull the fool move of relaxing at the edge of the border.

It was an hour after traveling in Rice Field Country when Jin finally allowed himself a rest. Stopping he set Naruto down and sat down on an old tree stump. Breathing a sigh of relief Jin turned his face toward the confused Naruto.

"Well kid here we are Rice Field Country, what do ya think?"

To be quite honest Naruto didn't really notice that the scenery changed, he was to busy trying to figure out what he would ask Jin today. Looking around now, however, Naruto was pleasantly surprised. Instead of the forests that filled Fire Country this place seemed to have endless rice fields. It was nice in Naruto's opinion he didn't really like the expansive forests of Konoha anyway.

Examining Naruto's face Jin smiled. _'Guess he likes it.'_

"Pretty nice place isn't it."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Turning back to Jin he regained his resolve in his original purpose.

"Hey Jin… when I asked if you were a ninja and you said no what does that make you, you also said that if you wanted to learn to fight you're best chance was to become a ninja does that mean you learned how to fight like a ninja?"

Jin had to think about this one for a while, he had to admit the kid impressed him with his question.

"Well… I guess you can say that I'm a swordsman, people like me are a lot rarer then ninja. You won't find many in the larger villages, but in the smaller ones swordsmen are a much better alternative then ninja mostly due to price."

Naruto took some time to ponder Jin's answer, in his mind since the swordsmen don't have their own army that must mean they're weaker then ninja. To confirm this Naruto asked Jin.

"If that's true does that mean that swordsmen are weaker then ninja?"

Jin smiled at this he knew that question was coming it always did when someone was asking about this topic.

"The truth is, just like ninja there are individuals who are exceptionally strong and those who are rather weak. The only difference is ninjas have a monopoly on the military. The Lords of the five Countries believe that ninja are the best suited to be the army because of their nature. It's because of that reason most people will think ninjas are stronger. However by personal experience I can assure you that's not the case."

It wasn't quite the answer he expected, because of that Naruto didn't form an opinion at the moment. Naruto needed more questions answered at the moment.

"Does that mean you're strong Jin?"

The conversation took an unexpected turn for Jin. True he knew his capabilities he just didn't know why the kid wanted to know. He would play the waters just a little bit to gauge Naruto's reaction.

"Me? I'm nothing special." _'I can't tell him yet first I've figure out if there are other options.'_

At this Naruto's expression fell a little but just as quickly covered up in a smile. Just as he was about to speak another voice interjected.

"Ah yes well that does make things easier then doesn't it?"

Jin and Naruto turned there heads to the newcomer.

He was 5'8 clad in standard Konoha ninja attire. Jin's first instinct was to take the advantage and finish him off, but restrained himself from doing curious as to what he wanted. It was clear from his clothing that he wasn't ANBU…nah those guys are easy to distinguish from other ninja. What did catch Jin's attention was the Konoha headband with a scratch mark through it.

"Ah got to admit sneaking up on me was pretty good leaf ninja sneaking up on us like that… you wouldn't happen to be an Uchiha would you?"

Slowly the strangers lips curled into and arrogant smirk, his eyes quickly changing to show a matured Sharingan.

"Ah I see Konoha is already missing my absence."

Jin was faced with a few choices here. He could just do what this guy wanted no fuss it'd probably let them move on faster. He could kill him, though judging by the way he was able to get close undetected proved he had at least some skill in stealth, other then that Jin would have to guess most of his other abilities. Though Jin did have a good estimate of how strong he could potentially be he had faced numerous Uchiha in the war and was confident in his abilities to predict what skills this no name had. If he chose to fight, however, that meant Naruto would find out he had lied to him and that meant more questions and one really pissed off kid. At the moment Jin didn't want to deal with that he still needed to decide what he was going to do about Naruto. Left with no other choice he could think of at the moment Jin tried to diffuse the situation.

"Actually I wouldn't know just heard some rumors of an Uchiha who turned rogue." To add the right amount of sincerity Jin added the smallest hint of fear in his voice.

The Uchiha apparently heard and gave a satisfied 'humph'.

Naruto was beside himself. He didn't quite know how to react to the situation, his first instinct told him to run. He could usually ditch the average angry mob, but the few times that he did run from ninja it all ended pretty badly. He also couldn't abandon Jin the one person who had offered him kindness when no one else would, save the old man. Though if what Jin said was true then he couldn't beat this guy.

Turning to look at the kid with the man Sato Uchiha was a bit surprised. The last thing he expected to find out it this dump of a country was the demon kid. Unlike most in the village that hated, Sato saw his potential to become the ultimate weapon. With the proper grooming and training the kid could take on anyone. At these thoughts his smirk changed into a grin.

"Hey I'll make a deal with you since I'm feeling so generous today, you give me all you're cash and the kid and I'll let you live." The way it left Sato's mouth was more of an order then a question.

'_Ah shit he wants the kid.'_ Of all the things that Jin needed at the moment this was at the bottom of the list. Thinking of his options Jin unconsciously started to grip his sword. For a few moments Jin stared at the Uchiha's Sharingan.

Naruto silently stared back and forth between Jin and the newcomer. Fear paralyzed his small body as he heard what the ninja wanted. _'If what Jin said is true then he can't beat that ninja… can he? Will he give me away to this guy? NO JIN WOULDN'T DO THAT! HE SAID HE WOULD TAKE CARE OF ME!' _His thoughts were so in disarray he didn't feel the tears that started to fall down his cheek.

Jin didn't have time to look at Naruto his attention was focused on his enemy, though he did hear Naruto's sobs. _'Hang in there kid it'll all be over soon'_. He just needed a second then he could move. All he needed was this guy to lose focus for a second anything would do. _'THERE IT IS!' _Less then a second the Uchiha took his off of Jin to look at the sight of Naruto crying.

Sato heard a sound he hadn't heard since he left the village. He loved it, the sound of something crying out of fear. Soon he would have the perfect weapon. Moving only his eyes he spied the 'fox' child. That's when he heard it. It was faint extremely faint, he had heard this sound before. Then it hit him.

Jin's sword cleaved into the Uchiha's shoulder slicing clean through his body. The only problem was his body was replaced with a log. _'Shit he's better then I thought.'_

Jin's thoughts were cut short, however, as he heard movement behind him. Quickly turning around he once again was treated with that arrogant Uchiha smirk.

**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**

The flame quickly expanded into a ball intent on melting Jin's flesh from its bones. As it approached Jin countered, bringing his sword above his head he executed another overhead slash.

Sato continued with his jutsu intent on making sure only ashes remained. Angry was an understatement he was furious, he would've let him go if only he complied but no he had to spit on his mercy. _'DAMN HIM! HE'S LIKE THE REST, LOOKING DOWN ON ME! ALWAYS FAWNING OVER ITACHI, DAMN HIM DAMN HIM!' _He would've continued had he not seen his fireball split in half. Eyes widening at seeing Jin in the middle unharmed from the attack.

"Do you know how many times I've seen that attack? What's worse is how badly you performed it. That's the problem with you ninja you learn something but you don't bother to master it. I must say if you wanted to turn traitor you should've made sure you were strong enough to handle it." Jin had grown quite tired of this. He had already let the match last to long.

Naruto looked on in amazement at what was happening before him. Seeing Jin's performance thus far Naruto could only imagine what Jin's definition of 'strong' was. Of course that didn't mean he wasn't still afraid. Even though Jin was doing rather well against the ninja he still knew what they were capable of.

"Bast-"Sato's line was cut short as he quickly reached for a kunai. Lifting it up over his shoulder he successfully blocked Jin's attack.

Sato struggled to keep Jin's attack from going any lower. He couldn't believe this man's strength. What's worse was he was using only one arm! It didn't help that he didn't look to be straining himself to much either.

"DAMN YOU!" Sato managed to huff out.

Jin gave a bored frown. He had let the battle drag on longer then he had to. He berated himself for it. This wasn't the time to see if he could get a real fight.

Suddenly pushed his sword forward creating a spark it burst into flame. Sato's eyes suddenly resembled dinner plates, his strength momentarily weakened. Pressing the advantage Jin pushed the bladed down into his shoulder.

Sato screamed in pain, his instinct making him jump back causing more damage as the blade went deeper. Clear of the blade Sato held his now bleeding shoulder.

Jin pressed his attack stabbing his blade into the ground dragging it as he charged. Again the flamed to life as it tore through the earth. Bringing his blade up in a diagonal slash, the Uchiha had no time to dodge as the blade cut clean through his body.

With a look of utter shock on his face Sato Uchiha's upper body separated from it's lower half.

Jin shook his head then flicked the small amounts of blood of his sword and sheathed it.

Naruto's mouth was moving but no words were coming out. Personally he hadn't seen Jin fight before and after his comment, didn't expect much in terms of being strong. Yet there he stood, not even breaking a sweat, blowing fire from his mouth like it was a daily occurrence. It was then Naruto saw Jin was starting to walk towards him finally finding he could move again Naruto ran towards Jin and hugged him tears streaming down his face. He may have had questions for him but at the moment he was relieved that he was able to beat that ninja.

Jin started to awkwardly pat Naruto's head. He wasn't all to familiar with calming down children. Though the boy's sobbing did start slowing down. Figuring they had to get moving soon Jin gently pushed the boy away.

"Come on kid we still have to keep moving, port town isn't that far away if move for the rest of the day we can get there in the late evening." Even though he tried to say it as calmly as he could Jin's voice still sounded a bit to serious.

Naruto rubbed his eyes and nodded to Jin. Again they started walking, Naruto being led by Jin's hand. At the moment he wasn't paying much attention to anything. His thoughts much to absorbed at the sight he just witnessed. After thinking long and hard he finally gathered up his courage. Turning to Jin he was about to open his mouth when he found Jin was already looking at him a mixture of worry and concern on his facial expression.

Resolve undeterred Naruto asked his question. "Jin before when you said you weren't anything 'special' does that mean the ninja you fought was really weak?"

Jin sweat dropped. He had suspicions about what the kid would ask 'that was so cool' 'could you teach me how to do that' or the one he dreaded 'YOU LIED TO ME!' No this kid continued to surprise him. _'Damn kid just full of surprises aren't you?' _What mattered at the moment was that Naruto needed to know the truth, or at least some of it. After the battle and during the walk Jin debated whether or not to teach the boy. In the end he realized that his life would require him to fight sooner or later. That's what sealed the decision.

"Naruto It's not that I'm weak, actually some consider me the greatest swordsman in the world."

As Jin said this Naruto's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak but Jin cut him off.

"I'm not trying to sound arrogant and I wasn't trying to lie to you. Though through recent events I've learned that some people were planning to kidnap you, I don't exactly know what they could possibly gain from it thought." Jin sighed as he finished. Eventually he would have to tell him of the fox, but not right now he was still young Jin would try to at least make some of his childhood enjoyable.

Naruto's eyes widened even further. He had always known people had hated him, but now they wanted to take him away? Naruto's mind was having trouble wrapping itself around the concept. He tried to voice his questions about it but found he could only say one word.

"Why?"

Jin rubbed the back of his head. _'How best to explain this to a five year old?'_

"Well kid I guess sometimes life is just mean. Sometimes people are just dealt a bad hand. The only way to make sense out of it is to force it to. That's why I offer you the chance to learn from me."

Naruto's face brightened up considerably. He was about jump for joy when he felt Jin's hand on his shoulder. Quickly looking up to see what the problem was, Naruto saw that Jin's face fell. His appearance looked…grim.

"Naruto think long and hard about what I'm going to tell you now. What I'm going to teach you… eventually you will have to defend yourself with it. Eventually it will get to the point where you will have to kill. I won't delude you with promises that you may not have to use it. Do you understand?" Jin sighed as he said. He remembered receiving a similar speech when his master offered to teach him.

Naruto's smile turned to frown. The prospect of killing someone had crossed his mind occasionally. There were some nights that he truly believed that he would go through with it. It was those nights that the voice would encourage his rage his bloodlust. It at those moments when his mind was cloudiest that the old man would visit him. They would often talk for hours and by the end he would forget about his murderous thoughts. Now was different, Jin just told him, rather calmly at that, that he would be forced to kill someone eventually. No he wouldn't falter now. Jin was offering to help him, he hadn't given Naruto a reason not to trust him at this point. Turning back to look at Jin with new fire in his eyes.

"I won't back from this. I'll learn everything you have to teach and become so strong no one will ever want to mess with me!" Naruto said with as much conviction that he could muster.

Jin had to smile a little at the boy. He just supposed they could just cross the bridges as they came upon them.

"Alright kid as long as you think you can handle it."

Naruto smiled and went back to jumping around happily.

Watching Naruto jump around Jin couldn't help but think how hard things were going to get from now on.

The two started walking down the path again, oblivious to the set of eyes watching the scene from the bushes.

It was indeed late evening when Jin and Naruto had arrived in the port town. Both were exhausted both physically and mentally. Quickly going to the nearest motel Jin walked in. The place was a dump but at least they could rest. Quickly paying the man behind the desk Naruto and Jin made there way to the room.

Inside the room Naruto collapsed on the bed while Jin collapsed on the floor. Not really caring about anything else the two quickly fell asleep.

_All was dark. He couldn't make out anything around except the outline of buildings, yet he knew it was Konoha. He had traversed these streets almost everyday, he knew almost every inch of the village. He turned to look behind him, same sight. Turning back around to the front Naruto saw Jin. The look in his eyes… they were cold held no emotion they were…inhuman to a certain degree. _

_Naruto felt a lump in his throat. He had never seen that look on Jin before even when fought that ninja earlier in the day. The young boy quickly averted his eyes; he couldn't take it that gaze it scared him beyond anything he ever experienced before. Chancing a glance Naruto saw Jin had raised his arm up. Curious Naruto lifted his gaze focusing only on Jin's arm, to afraid to make eye contact. _

_Jin snapped his fingers and instantly the world lit up. Naruto would've given anything to stay in the dark. Bodies everywhere men women children littered around the area. Naruto wanted to throw up, but his fear prevented him. Tears streamed down his face he closed his eyes, it didn't help. The sight was still there; he brought his hand over his eyes still he saw them. _

_He put his back on Jin focused only on him. Though Jin's expression had change, his face looked like it was proud. Naruto didn't understand why; did that mean Jin killed these people. As if sensing his thoughts Jin pointed toward Naruto's hand. Looking down Naruto saw that he was gripping Jin's sword tightly, the bodies piled higher around him then any other part of the area. _

_This time Naruto did scream. His voice echoing like a shriek from a banshee, he could feel fresh tears streaming down his face. Looking back towards Jin to for answers he found that the man's expression had changed again. This time it seemed he was disappointed in Naruto's reaction. _

_Naruto saw this, worried; he hurried to call out to him. Again, as if reading his mind, Jin turned and began walking away. __**'NO DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE HERE!' **__Naruto's mind screamed. Finding a strength he didn't know he had Naruto gave chase, forgetting his fear momentarily. Seeing him round a corner Naruto put on a burst of speed. _

_Rounding the corner Naruto found it to be a dead end no Jin in sight. Feeling another presence Naruto frantically looked around. Suddenly at the end of the alley one opened, the same eye that he had dreamt about before. Realizing what it was Naruto could only squeak out a 'no'. Another eye opened. Those slits… they haunted him, he tried to run again but found his momentary strength was gone. Finally a mouth opened baring all its teeth in a sadistic inhuman grin. _

Naruto woke up in a cold sweat. He had dreamt again. Looking around frantically he realized he was still in the motel room. Breathing a sigh of relief he fell back onto the bed. He was still breathing heavily, he hadn't a dream like that before. Usually they would involve him getting killed, not to mention these dreams would come along every few months. Naruto shook his head he would think about it later. Hearing a snort Naruto peeked out over the bed.

Jin lay sprawled out on the floor, shifting to get more Jin felt something on his back. Cracking his eye open slowly Jin was treated to a sore back. Getting up as best he could he looked around to see Naruto staring at him. Popping his back Jin walked towards the window and opened the curtains.

Sunlight poured into the room. Jin turned back around looking at Naruto.

"You ready for a boat ride?" Jin said as he began to rub his neck.

"I've never been on a boat before."

"Heh don't worry about it…you'll be fine."

It was still the morning hour when Jin and Naruto made it to the docks and mid afternoon when Jin was able to get them passage on a ship. Nothing fancy just a small merchant vessel.

Naruto didn't complain, he actually found it quite enjoyable he loved the smell of the sea air all the blue even the rocking of the boat. He expressed his joy by emptying the contents of his stomach into the water.

Jin was rubbing the poor boys back as he leaned over the side of the boat.

"Don't worry kid it'll pass."

Naruto turned to Jin and gave him a weak smile before turning back and continuing.

Jin sighed and continued to rub Naruto's back.

**DONE AND DONE!**

**Alright I think this chapter is alright but the weakest of what I've done so far. Also for my fight scenes I'm sorry if they seem rather pathetic at the moment but I'm still trying to get it down and also Jin really isn't going to fight anybody that's worth his real skill for a little while. **

**I meant to get it out sooner but something always seemed to come up like a John Wayne marathon and right after a Clint Eastwood Western marathon. Anyway I'll begin working on chapter 5 right after this is posted. Only one more chapter before training and all that jazz.**


	5. Naruto and Jin 5: Finally Arriving

**Back again been thinking about last chapter, I feel it wasn't as good as it could've been. Probably go back and re-write someday. Anyway been thinking a lot if this fic should have a pairing, one of the reviewers asked if it could be an OC. Eh I'll figure it out, maybe even turn it into a small harem maybe not. Anyway let me know your peoples opinion.**

**Also if it feels things are rushed I apologize. It's been a while since I updated, and I mostly worked on this in a little rush. Also I really want to finish this part up and get into the deeper ideas I've got. You know advance him to the age where things really take off.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ruroni Kenshin.**

The trip had been rather uneventful, save for a seagull attacking Naruto close to land. Seeing as it was the only form of entertainment on the ship Jin allowed the spectacle to continue for a few minutes. Finally having his laugh Jin got up and smacked the bird away from Naruto. Patting the small boy on the head Jin turned around and walked back to his seat.

Naruto followed Jin, rubbing his head slightly, grinding his teeth. He was just a bit mad at the fact that Jin laughed at him while the gull rained down a horrendous assault of beak. Though, thinking back on it Naruto smiled as he pictured the look on his face as he ran around trying to get away. Laughing to himself he walked over to Jin.

"Hey Jin are we almost there?" Naruto whined, he had to admit that after the thrill of being on a boat for the first time wore off it was really boring.

"Don't worry not much longer." Jin said in a bored tone. Personally Jin didn't enjoy so much time doing nothing.

Naruto took a seat next to Jin. Looking down at his feet as he swayed back and forth he wondered how different Lightning Country was from Fire Country. It was a little confusing, was the name literal or merely just a name. Naruto tugged on Jin's sleeve to get his attention.

"Hey Jin what's Lightning Country like?"

"It's a pretty nice place as long as you stay away from the mountains."

"Why can't you go to the mountains?"

"Nastiest lightning storms on the entire continent happen there." As Jin said this he started to stretch _'almost there'_ he kept chanting in his mind.

"Does Lightning Country have ninja?" Naruto asked next.

It took Jin a couple of seconds to process the question "huh… oh yeah. They have ninja there. Kumogakure, Lightning Countries ninja village, is located at the biggest mountain in the country."

"But Jin didn't you say that the lightning storms make it dangerous?" Naruto was at the edge of his seat now.

"Oh yes very. It's because of that reason why Kumogakure is located there. The harsh environment produces excellent training grounds." Jin frowned at this, he never really did approve of Kumo's training methods.

Naruto sat slack jawed at that statement. He never knew training could be so dangerous. Then a thought occurred _'wait if it's so dangerous there does that mean normal people don't live in that village?'_

"Hey Jin does that mean normal people don't live in Kumogakure?"

Jin scratched the back of his head; he had to admit for a kid he was pretty quick. "Well… the way Kumo is set up is quite different from Konoha. Because of the storms Kumo is divided into three sections civilian, military, and mining. The civilian sector is located at the base of the mountain, mostly because it's away from the harshest part of the storm but also because it would be a real bitch for merchants to have scale a mountain every time they needed to get to Kumo. Anyway it's got a basic layout that's similar to Konoha shops in one area, residential houses in another, and clan districts in the best areas of the city. After that you have the mines these are restricted, even to most ninja."

"How come Jin?"

"Excessive mining has caused the mountain to lose internal integrity; because of this the miners are constantly throwing up supports to keep the place from coming down on itself. Ninja, being the infinite jackasses they are, tend to make things worse, so after a few mishaps a few years back the Raikage made it that you need permission from him and the guy running the mines. Most of the time it's only ninja who actually study mining and have a knack for Doton jutsu that are allowed in. Anyway I don't know much of what happens in there personally."

Naruto's curiosity was skyrocketing, Kumo was sounding more exciting with each word that came out of Jin's mouth. He had only heard of mining a couple of times walking the streets of Konoha. Only vague parts of the conversation such as someone's son had gone off to be a miner or something to that effect. After questioning the Hokage about it the answer he received put his mind at rest. He never really thought about it again till now.

"What do they mine in Kumo Jin?"

"Heh… chakra ore."

"Chakra ore?"

"Yeah chakra ore…" saying this Jin gazed out into the distance as if the sea enticed him into a trance "exceptional substance really. Has the ability to focus chakra, conduct it in such a way that makes its even more valuable then gold. It turns whatever type of charka you're pumping into it to that specific element the ores attuned. Problem is it's extremely hard to handle, not to mention it's horribly explosive" Jin grinned at that. "Takes a true master to make anything that works out of it, reason why I say that is because each type requires a different method when working it, not only that but once you finish the item you can't really repair it if it's damaged without ruining the ore. You, also, need to be careful that you don't go pumping chakra into raw ore, if you do there's a good chance that the damn thing will explode." Jin said the last part with a laugh thinking of past encounters.

Naruto's eyes were practically popping out of his skull by this point. It all sounded so surreal to Naruto. Kumo, the mines, especially the chakra ore he wanted to experience it. He wanted to go to Kumo. Heck he still didn't know where Jin lived maybe he lived there? Naruto shook his head to clear it of thoughts just as Jin started speaking again.

"Anyway Kumo's main export happens to be the Lighting Chakra Ore they mine, seeing as how it's one of the only places you get it, that particular type of ore is rather expensive. It is extremely useful; however, to the effect that it can store energy exceptionally well. It also makes incredible material to use for weapons. However the only weapon that I know, that still exists, made from Lighting Ore is in the possession of the Raikage himself." As he finished Jin seemed to snap out of the trance and took a look at Naruto.

Naruto blinked a little when Jin turned to look at him, realizing a little drool was falling from his mouth he cheeks reddened a little from embarrassment. Wiping the substance away Naruto asked about the final sector of Kumo.

"What about the last place the military one?"

Jin narrowed his eyes a little as he spoke "Yes… the military sector it's situated at the topmost area of the mountain. Completely restricted to the higher ranking ninja, only other way to get in is to get a personal invitation from the Raikage himself." Stopping his explanation as one of the men declared land ahead Jin decided he would finish his explanation later. Telling Naruto he would finish later Jin sent him to get there stuff.

Naruto sighed complying.

Jin walked to the other side of the ship _'not much longer till were back home'_. Jin smiled he thought Naruto enjoyed the description of Kumo, which reminded him he still needed to tell him.

Finally arriving into port the two made there way into town. Jin pulled Naruto along as the boy was taking in the sights. Quickly heading into the first restaurant he found Naruto and Jin took a seat.

Immediately picking up a menu Jin hurriedly explained his actions. "Sorry kid we haven't had anything except meal bars for the last few days I need some real food."

Naruto agreed wholeheartedly. Apparently the deal Jin negotiated with the merchant only included basic foodstuff anything "fancy" as the fat little man termed it would cost extra. Not really feeling up to arguing or paying the obscene prices Jin let it slide.

"May I help you gentlemen?"

Naruto looked up while Jin calmly closed his menu and set it down. Jin took the initiative "Give us one of everything on the menu."

The young women looked at Jin as if he had grown a second head. "Excuse me?"

"One of everything… and while you're at it I'll take some extra steaks and whatever the kid wants."

Naruto's lips were moving but no words came out. He looked at the menu it had to be at least six pages long and he ordered one of everything from it! Even when the Hokage had let him gorge himself on Ramen he had never eaten anything near the amount of food Jin just ordered. Though he had to admit he was damn hungry after eating those miniscule portions of food on the ship, but still even to him this was a little much.

Jin smiled at Naruto's expression "well I guess that'll do… for now." Jin said that last part as more of a joke then anything but it came out more like a threat.

It took a few seconds for the waitress to finally leave. When she did Jin focused his attention on Naruto the atmosphere immediately turning serious.

"Alright Naruto I've had a lot of time to think on that boat trying to decide on how best to handle our current situation."

Getting no interruption from Naruto he continued.

"My job forces me to travel… a lot, it can take anywhere from a week to a month for me to get back. Because of this I can't really teach you as effectively as I would like to."

Hearing this Naruto's head fell slightly, the way he sounded made it seem like he would be a burden to Jin.

"That's why I'm going to take only local jobs for a little while to make sure you get the basics down. After that you'll accompany me when I have to leave and we'll supplement the decrease in training with real world experience got it?"

Naruto nodded.

"Furthermore I still haven't told you where I live so I think now's a good time to tell you where going to Kumo."

Naruto's eyes lit up brightly hearing the last part. For the most part Naruto was hoping that Jin lived in the village he described on the boat. He had to admit, however, that a small part of him wished Jin lived in a small town.

After that the conversation between the two died off each lost in there own thoughts. Soon after the food arrived and the two began gorging themselves, now that he saw the amount Jin could honestly say he was surprised. He wasn't expecting this much. Though between him and the kid he thought they could make a decent dent in it.

By the time the two of them had left the restaurant they could've sworn they gained thirty pounds each. While Jin didn't think they actually finish he didn't plan on the damn food tasting so good. He smiled he hadn't had this much fun in a long time although he would have to do something about spending so much money it was burning a hole in his wallet fast. Not to mention his gut felt like it was about to burst.

It was time to sleep now, however, and Jin made his way to the nearest place to stay he could find.

It was early morning when Jin woke up. He groaned as his stomach started to rumble loudly. _'Shit feels like a war was fought in there'_ Jin thought as he rubbed his stomach. As if hearing his thoughts Jin's stomach groaned in pain. _'Damn I'm not in any condition to walk let alone travel'. _Again his stomach groaned _'Damn maybe there's some merchants heading towards Kumo today'._ Making a mental not to himself to never eat that much again, Jin proceeded to wake up Naruto.

Naruto groaned, rolled over, and pulled the blanket over his head when he felt the hand shake his shoulder. Even he had to admit that he ate too much last night, but it was good so it didn't bother him to much. His stomach disagreed with him as it began to protest. At first he tried to ignore it but it became more persistent, he didn't even notice Jin was shaking him anymore, until he jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Jin smiled at the boy's antics then cursed when he realized he would have to wait his turn.

Sometime later the two left the room. Naruto allowed Jin to guide him to their current destination while he took in the sites. He had to admit it was really different then any other place he'd been before. The buildings seemed too made of brick material, with a rectangular shape. Even the manner of dress was different, almost everyone wore loose fitting pants and shirts. The biggest difference, he noticed, was the lack of ninja. Granted he technically only noticed ninja in Konoha, but damn it he wanted to see what ninja were like in this country. Finally noticing that they stopped Naruto looked up to Jin conversing with an older man. From the looks of it the older man seemed relatively happy about something before walking away.

Jin sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Alright kid listen up I got some good news and bad news." Naruto tilted his head, as if to listen better. "I got us a ride with a small merchant caravan heading towards Kumo, bad thing is they say there are bandits in the area so there's a decent chance there'll be a fight."

Naruto nodded his head "But you're really strong Jin so it won't to bad will it?" Jin shrugged "normally it wouldn't matter much but I'm almost certain I know who most of them are, for the most part there decent people. Problem is there almost a one hundred percent guarantee that they will attack. Don't worry though I'll make sure everything is fine." Jin winked.

Naruto laughed a bit and nodded his head. He then tugged on Jin's coat to ask his question. "Jin I was wondering… how come there aren't any ninja here?" Jin shrugged. "Eh it's not war time so most ninja spend time defending the southern borders, there's maybe one or two guys here. Lord of Lightning Country doesn't like to spread out her main military force so she hires mercenaries to police these towns." Jin motioned Naruto forward "anyway we need to head towards the east gate that's where there waiting."

Upon approach to the gate Naruto noticed several wagons and about two dozen or so people dressed in long robes. As if reading his mind Jin told him about them "Merchant nomads. They don't have a home country, they continually travel from place to place trading. Most times they have at least one mercenary traveling with them, thing is there previous ones contract expired and asked for to much money so they let him go."

After a small introduction Naruto and Jin took a seat in the back of one of the wagons. Seeing as Jin was taking a nap, Naruto studying the people they were traveling with. They were darker then anyone he's ever seen, they wore long flowing robes ranging from white to a light blue. Most of them seemed to be a little tall, but smaller people would walk by the cart occasionally. That was another thing too it was like a small mobile village; everyone always seemed to be doing something going from wagon to wagon, even the carts each had something different going on.

One seemed to be filled with food, Naruto couldn't tell what kind though but if the smell was any indication it seemed really good. Another was filled with weapons ranging kunai and shuriken to some Naruto had never seen before. Naruto then checked out the cart he was in; this one wasn't as full as the other ones, the crates in this were sealed save one this one was filled with the robes that everyone here seemed to wear. It was then he noticed the occupant sitting towards the other end. She was rather pretty, he had to admit to himself, and she had sandy blonde and hair nice face. If Naruto had to guess she was older by four maybe six years. He jumped when she opened her eyes.

They stayed staring at each for several minutes before she finally smiled at him. _'Uh oh.'_ Naruto knew this smile, it was one he used all the time, it was the type smile that said "This is gonna be good". Ha to bad for her Naruto was prepared for anything she could throw at him. Then… she winked at him. Blushing madly he quickly turned away from her as her cute giggles assaulted his ears. He cursed softly, _'damn girls, don't know how to pull a good prank' _he scrunched up his face, then heard the girl giggle again. Naruto huffed then turned around completely.

It was late evening when the caravan stopped for the night. Everyone set up tents started fires began cooking singing it was like a carnival of sorts. Naruto got a bowl of a strange stew and went to sit down next to Jin. As he settled himself on the log the girl from earlier took a seat next to him. Naruto's intelligent response "um… hi?" The girl giggled again. Jin looked between the two and excused himself. As soon as Jin left the girl scooted herself closer to Naruto.

"Hi my names Kasumi what's yours?" The extended her hand as she said this. "M-my names N-N-Naruto." Naruto stuttered out. Seeing he wasn't going to do anything the Kasumi took Naruto's hand in hers and shook it. "It's nice to meet you Naruto." Kasumi put on a charming smile. It seemed to have its effect Naruto's face turned red "um y-yeah." Kasumi giggled "You're cute". Naruto gagged on his stew, oh this girl was good.

The girl giggled again "You want to be my friend." Naruto dropped his bowl. "What did you say?" Not noticing the change in his demeanor she repeated herself. Naruto was frozen he didn't know how to react to the situation. Sure he tried to make friends in Konoha but there parents always chased him off, he never imagined anyone would try to be his friend. Then again there were people who often tricked him maybe she was one of them, one of those people that tried to hurt him.

He proceeded with caution "Why would you wanna be my friend?" Not the most subtle thing Naruto could say… but it got his point across. This time she did notice the change "What's wrong with wanting to be your friend?" Naruto narrowed his eyes a little bit _'well… we aren't in Konoha anymore Jin did say that it would be fine'. _He'd give it a chance. "I'm sorry… it's just not very many people have been nice to me." Naruto said sadly. Kasumi gave Naruto a sympathetic look then happily chirped "Buck up people who don't treat you well are just big jerks."

Through the night the two talked learning about each other. Naruto learned that Kasumi had a rather big sweet tooth, loved the way she lived, and thought Naruto was cute. Kasumi learned that Naruto liked Jin, loved Ramen, and some of the things the villagers did to Naruto. Kasumi was appalled hearing what they were doing to such a nice boy. Eventually the two went to sleep.

In the morning Naruto awoke to find Jin drooling on himself. Chuckling to himself he shook Jin awake. Groaning Jin sat up looked at Naruto and gave a sly half awake smirk. "So kid got yourself a girlfriend eh? An older one at that, ooh aren't you the little ladies man." Naruto blushed wildly while trying to deny it. Jin laughed, ruffled the boy's hair, and then went to clean himself off.

It was a little before noon when the caravan finally started off again. Sitting in the same place as yesterday Naruto began conversing with Kasumi. It was strange Naruto had never had a conversation with someone close to his age before it was… nice. He had made his first friend.

It was late afternoon when the first arrow flew. The intended target the older man who hired Jin. It would've hit to if it weren't for Jin. What surprised Naruto the most was the fact that he didn't even see Jin move.

Jin snapped the arrow between his fingers. Out of, seemingly, nowhere twenty men appeared surrounding the caravan. One stepped forward, apparently, the leader. He was a giant of a man easily towering over Jin. He had a heavily scarred face his arms, also heavily scarred, and had metals plates bolted to his arms. He sported a nasty looking crossbow, and bits armor littered his body. He grinned nastily at the old man and Jin's back.

"Alright everyone listen up! Me and my boys are gonna take everything you got, you cooperate you live you don't… well we're gonna kill you now any questions?" The man smirked in triumph as he saw the fear evident in almost everyone's eyes. Jin started laughing, quietly at first, getting louder and louder. The man's face turned into a scowl "WHAT THE HELL'S SO FUNNY HUH? YOU WANNA DIE OR SOMETHING?" At this Jin laughed even louder. Finally stopping Jin turned around, instantly the man's face turned white.

"Hey Jagi it's been a while hasn't it?" Jin began walking forward. Every step Jin took Jagi took two steps back. "Hey why you walking back Jagi it's almost as if you're… afraid." Jin grinned. The bandits all looked at each other worriedly as there boss backed away from this dark haired man. "J-J-Jin w-what're y-you doing here?" Upon hearing the name the bandits within hearing range began murmuring among themselves. Some of the older ones starting taking there bosses lead and backed off as well. Jin was happy maybe he would be able to get out of this without violence.

Naruto and Kasumi stared in awe at the way the situation was being handled. "Hey Naruto does he always do that?" Kasumi asked. "I don't know I've only been with him for a little while only other person he's talked was a bartender in Konoha. Come to think of it he was afraid of Jin to. I wonder why?" Seeing the kids talking one of the bandits made a dash for Naruto. Naruto didn't know what happened till the knife was against his cheek. Naruto froze, he'd been in this kind of situation before, but always the old man would be there to help him. This time, however, the old man wasn't anywhere near here. Just thinking about the bad memories made as tears went down his face.

"ALRIGHT ANYONE MOVE AND THE KID GETS HURT!" The bandit yelled in triumph. The others around him seemed to have there spirits lifted as well as they started moving forward. If anything Jagi's face turned even whiter "YOU FOOL WHAT'RE YOU DOING PUT THE KID DOWN!" Everyone looked at Jagi as if he had grown a second head. "WHY BOSS? WE HAVE THE UPPER HAND." The bandits waited for there bosses reply.

The silence was broken as the sound a sword being drawn was heard. Jin's easygoing expression was gone. His face hardened, it showed no emotion, his eyes; however, they showed a fury. No one was going to mess with the kid as long as he was taking care of him, much less use him as a human shield.

"Jagi tell your colleague to drop Naruto right now or I'm going to take off his arms." Jagi had only seen Jin act this way once, no way was he gonna fuck with him now. "DAMN IT, DROP THE FUCKING KID NOW!" Jagi yelled. The bandit holding Naruto looked between Jagi and Jin. Steeling his resolve he cut Naruto's cheek "Boss you've gone soft, shit this guy's not going to do anything while we have the kid."

The guy didn't even get a chance to smile at his supposed triumph. It happened fast. It's as if Naruto had materialized in Jin's arms. Fresh blood was on his sword. Jin's original stance was altered slightly. Everyone quickly turned there heads to the bandit that was originally holding the kid. He was as baffled as they were; he looked down at his empty hands. He tried to move his arms but found he couldn't he looked up at Jin saw the blood on his sword then looked back to his hands. They appeared to be on the floor. He desperately tried to move them. It was then the pain hit him.

Everyone watched as the man screamed flailing his arms about. "Jagi get your men out of here, this is your last chance." Jin let Naruto then flicked the blood from his sword and sheathed it. Jagi nodded his head and backed off, the others followed his lead. "Oh and Jagi, the next time you bring in new guys make sure they aren't garbage." Jagi hastily nodded his head then quickly retreated with the others following him.

Once they were all out of sight the merchants all cheered. Jin really paid them no heed he knelt down to check on Naruto. "Hey kid you okay?" Jin said placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto sniffled then threw his arms around Jin. Quietly sobbing Naruto muttered muffled thank yous into Jin's jacket. Jin patted Naruto's back cautiously, not really knowing what to do. When the merchants and Naruto calmed down they resumed the trip. After the initial celebration it was unusually quiet, even Naruto was withdrawn into his thoughts.

It was a couple hours later when Jin elbowed Naruto to get his attention. Naruto looked at Jin seeing his finger pointing up. His eyes widened the sky was being blocked out by the thickest clouds he had ever seen. Suddenly lighting arced in the clouds, with thunder cracking soon after. Naruto jumped, he had never anything like this in Fire Country. "Jin does this mean were almost there?" Jin smiled at Naruto then pointed towards the horizon. The tip of a huge mountain peaked out over it. "Don't worry kid we'll be there in about an hour." Naruto felt a light tapping on his shoulder he turned around to Kasumi smiling at him. "You feeling better Naruto?" Naruto nodded his head. Jin smiled at the two and took a nap.

An hour later the caravan approached the giant stone gate of Kumogakure, after talking with the guards they were allowed access. They finally stopped in the merchant quarter getting off Jin said he was going to get the pay. Naruto looked at Kasumi to find she had a sad smile on her face. "Well Naruto I guess this is where we go different ways." Naruto's face fell; he had forgotten that they were always traveling. "We'll see each other again though won't we Kasumi." Kasumi gave Naruto a hug "Maybe." Naruto hugged he back "Aren't you going stay here for a while?" "Maybe a couple of days we really only stopped to deliver some goods." "Then I'll come see you!" Naruto exclaimed. Kasumi smiled "I would like that."

At that moment Jin returned. Seeing the two he smirked he coughed to get there attention. They both turned and saw Jin smirking, both turned red and pulled away from each other. Jin laughed "Alright kid time to go. I'll show you your new home then I've got a couple places to go alright?" Naruto nodded his head and started following Jin, he turned around one last time and waved bye.

Leaving the market district the two made there way to the residential area. Naruto took note of how different the place was compared to Konoha. Everything was made out of stone; it was bizarre, even the small shops were made out of it, although there were the few rare that made out of other materials. The buildings were mostly rectangular taking more space then the places in Konoha. The people were also different they seemed… happier in a sense. They made there way through the residential area. He noticed that the houses started out small, some didn't even look bigger then the small stands in the market area. Then slowly the houses started to get bigger… grander. It started out that it was a bigger version of the house before it. Then they entered the clan sector. That's when things got ridiculous. Places that resembled small castles. They even had guards in the front of the place!

'_Wait a minute Jin said he was going to show me his house first, but how come were here? All the places here are HUGE!'_ He tugged on Jin's sleeve to get his attention. "Hey who lives here, and do you live here." Jin shrugged at the boy's question. "Mostly the big ninja clans, some of the richer people also. As for where I live… well I live in this area. I got the place at a real good price when I bought it, not much further now." They finally came to a stop in one of the bigger places. Naruto's eyes bugged out it was bigger then most of the places he'd seen so far. It had the basic layout of most of the other buildings but the size of it was astounding. Jin put his hand on Naruto's shoulder "This place used to be the clan house of one of Kumo's bigger clans. Eh several years ago they found the bodies of the clan in here nobody ever figured it out. Or if they did no one's saying what. After that people were afraid knock it down saying it was haunted. They tried selling it next, since no one bought the price was slashed repeatedly. Then I come along say what the hell and buy it."

Entering the place Naruto's eyes bugged out. It was exceptionally nice. "Alright kid lets give you the grand tour. Alright follow me, you got the kitchen here… probably need to restock since I'm back. Over here you got the bedrooms go ahead and pick one you want later, except the one at the end that's mine. Anyway over here you've got a basic dojo, clan use to have an honest to goodness martial arts school; we'll probably be spending time in here most of the time." Naruto took the layout of the house and remembered most of it. He had to admit the dojo was his favorite place by far, wooden swords hung up on the side of the wall, real ones on the opposite. Nice slick wooden floors with a door which looked like it lead to the outside. What surprised him the most was probably the overall size of it though, it was bigger then half the orphanage. "KID, KID, NARUTO!" Naruto looked up to Jin. "That's better c'mon I still have to show you the outside." The both of them stepped outside. Naruto was surprised it was full of green. Trees, bushes, and grass Naruto looked up to see the clouds still there, lightning still blazing, and thunder still cracking. He turned to see Jin grinning at him "These, these are special." Jin said as he patted one of the bigger trees. "Don't require much of anything and they'll still grow. They were already here when I got the place" He stayed there looking at the tree for a moment.

"Eh, let's go inside. I've got to wash up and change." Walking back into the house he showed Naruto where the bathrooms were, telling him to clean himself up. A while later after the two finished they made there way back to the shops the caravan stopped at earlier. The two entered a tailors shop. They walked through the aisles of clothes and cloth, and approached a counter. Jin rang the bell, and a man of decent build a little shorter then Jin came out of a backroom. "Hey Kenji how you doing?" Jin asked tapping is fingers on the counter. "Ah Jin my favorite customer how ya been?" Kenji grinned. "Eh just came to get some clothes for my little friend here." Jin motioned to Naruto. Kenji looked down at the small boy and grinned "Yeah I can do that what were you thinking of?" Jin tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Ten shirts, twelve pairs of pants, and two coats let the kid pick the color." The two of them looked at Naruto. He thought about it for a while "Um I like orange…" Jin shrugged "You heard the kid." Kenji looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright I can work with that, everything will be ready tomorrow you can pay me then." "Thanks man." With that Jin and Naruto left.

It was almost dark when the two went into the grocery shop. Many of the employees greeted Jin some giving him odd looks. Jin approached the clerk "Hey I need to make a special order." The clerk looked at Jin recognition in his eyes "Yes Mr. Jin what can I do for you?" "I need my usual only make last twice as long." The clerk nodded "Ok and when do wish us to deliver it?" "Tomorrow morning is fine." The clerk nodded tallied it up and asked Jin for the money. Paying the two walked out.

By the time they got those things out of the way it was dark out. Wondering where they could go now that it was so dark out, Naruto was surprised when they approached an exclusive bar. Jin and Naruto approached the door. The bouncer stopped them "Sorry Jin no kids allowed." Jin sighed "C'mon Ryou Its not like I'm stay the whole night, this place doesn't even have milk." Ryou narrowed his eyes "That's right you don't drink… it doesn't make a difference you're not getting in with the kid." "Fine then Ryou you watch Naruto here while I'm in there." Ryou laughed "That's not happening" Jin turned around and started walking with Naruto following behind him "Fine then you tell Mishima I didn't show up because you didn't want to watch a kid for five minutes." Ryou's face paled "Ah damn it ALRIGHT! Five minutes now hurry up." Jin turned to Naruto "Alright kid I'll be back be good old Ryou here seems like a hard ass but he's a good guy." Ryou scowled as Jin walked in.

Five minutes passed then ten then twenty. The time air between the two was awkward. Naruto tried to make small talk once or twice, but Ryou just brushed it off. Not more then two words was said between the two of them. The one who finally broke the silence was Ryou "You know I got a son about your age." Naruto looked up at the man "You do?" Ryou smiled "Yeah real happy kid wants to be a ninja when he grows up hmm… maybe you two can play together sometime." Naruto smiled "OK!" He happily chirped. Ryou nodded his head "He'll look forward to that. Maybe in a few days we'll drop by Jin's place." Naruto nodded his head. Soon after Jin came out of the bar. "Sorry for being late, but the old man was being especially pissy." Ryou shrugged and replied "No problem just telling the kid here that he should hang out with Ryou Jr." Jin nodded "That sounds fine, kid lets go."

With that the two left back to Jin's estate. Picking a room Naruto was about to walk into it when Jin stopped him. "Hey Naruto, tomorrow when everything gets delivered we'll start with some light training, to see what you can do. In the afternoon I'll let you go visit your friend while I go see a man about a sword okay." Naruto nodded and went into his room. He lied down in bed and smiled. He had a feeling he was gonna like it here.

**Alright alright this chapter is the longest I've typed so far. Honestly I thought up the idea of the merchant nomads at the last second. They'll play a role later on in the story. It seems like I'm introducing to many elements to fast. I'm trying to leave me different routes to take in case I change one of the bigger plot elements later on.**

**Also for the whole Jin moving with moving type deal its all plays on later in the story. Naruto starts training next chapter and I think I finally found the perfect plot hook to justify Naruto wanting to be a Kumo ninja.**

**I've tried to make my paragraphs meatier in a sense. **

**Last thing leave some constructive criticism for me to look I'm trying to make the story enjoyable for everyone. **


	6. Naruto and Jin 6: Fixing the Seal

**Alright got Chapter 6 here I originally intended to get this out earlier but due to a review which brought up a good point I debated whether to rewrite this chapter. I had debated whether or not to have Naruto use chakra, after much thought I decided yes he will learn how to use it. It was a really hard choice it would make for an excellent chance to write the first couple encounters between Kyuubi and Naruto. The Problem I saw with it though was I couldn't really justify how in the world I could have Naruto fight evenly later on with the tougher ninja.**

**I also thought that it could work if he learned it in the academy but that would mean he would be learning mostly how to mold it for jutsu as opposed to learning chakra control. In fact in this story Naruto will probably only know one to two jutsu maybe three at most one of them is going to be the Kawarmi (Don't know the correct spelling anyway the replacement one). I would rather focus on chakra control for this story.**

**Finally I've decided on Naruto's final sword style. It's going to incorporate Kenshin's and Shishio's mainly because they were my favorite characters in the series.**

_Naruto looked around himself seeing only an endless void. He called out for someone anyone. Suddenly a path lit up. Seeing nothing else to do Naruto followed it. Images of his life flashed on the path every bruise, every cut, every broken bone was shown to him. Naruto blocked it out his life was better now those people couldn't hurt him now. Soon the images were replaced with recent memories. Continuing on he couldn't help but wonder why these images were flashing before him._

_It was right after the memories of the trip with the caravan ended when he saw it. At first he couldn't make it out, but the closer he got the more his stomach started to churn. It was a body. Naruto quickly turned around to find the path had disappeared. He looked to his front to see the path ended at the corpse. Cautiously he made his way forward. He stopped at the head, reluctantly he bent down and turned the body over. He stumbled back screaming. It was Kasumi. _

_She had multiple cuts and gashes. Naruto brought his hand up to cover his face. To his horror he found that he was holding a sword. He dropped it like it was on fire. He quickly looked back to find that it was dark again. Panicking he ran blindly. Stopping after what seemed like an eternity the young boy fell to his knees panting. The area lit up. Naruto eyes widened at the sight. Bodies littered the ground, Naruto turned the other way. Bodies surrounded him. Some recognizable some not, though the one that stood out the most was the sandy blonde haired girl. _

_He wanted the nightmare to end. He dropped to his knees covered his eyes and started sobbing. Then he heard it, the laughing the horrible laughing. It was like nails scratching his soul. A loud rumble was then heard. He felt the ground shift and then he was falling. Naruto looked down into the endless void that he was falling into. Suddenly an eye opened then another. Two slits that were red that's the best description Naruto could come up with. A set of teeth then appeared forming a malicious grin. They separated forming a massive maw. Naruto screamed as he fell._

The young boy rolled out of his bed, landing on his head. Groaning he sat up to see the sun shining through the window. Another dream this one the worst yet. Naruto was really beginning to get worried. He didn't know what to do. Naruto sighed to himself he would ignore it for now his life was finally better he didn't need to worry about weird dreams now. He poked his head out of his room. Seeing the hallways empty he decided to explore a little bit. Walking with really no aim in mind, Naruto still marveled at the place. After a bit of walking he found himself in the kitchen. He saw Jin over the stove cooking.

"Hey kid finally up?" Jin said off-handedly. "Um yeah" Naruto replied. "While you were asleep the food came, so did your clothes. I put them in the bedroom next to yours if you wanna move them you can. Now wash up and change into something comfortable after breakfast we'll see what you can do." Naruto nodded his head and walked out of the kitchen. Showering and clothing himself he walked back into the kitchen to see Jin setting a table with food. Jin noticed Naruto's attire "Nice clothes kid." Naruto looked down at himself. He was dressed in a black shirt, orange pants, and an orange trench coat. Well Naruto did have to admit he liked the coat. He took a seat and began to dig in. The rest of breakfast was spent making small talk.

Once finished they made there way outside. Finding a particularly big tree Jin plopped his back against it and slid down. "Alright kid you know what chakra is?" Naruto shook his head no. Jin sighed "Alright I figured as much. That's fine, though, we can work our way up." Jin stood back up. "Here's the deal… chakra is the combination of your physical energy and your spiritual energy. This is the stuff that allows ninja and others to do all the crazy shit they do." To accentuate his point Jin walked to the largest tree in the area and walked up it. "What I'm going to teach you is how to control your chakra to such a degree that you'll be able to augment your physical abilities, soften blows you take, and so on. But first let's see what you can do." Jin brought his hands together and formed a seal. "Naruto bring your hands together like this concentrate and focus a little bit of chakra into your finger tips, not to much." Naruto's jaw had dropped witnessing what Jin did. When Jin finally did notice Naruto he started to laugh "Ha I know that look, I had that look on my face when I first started learning. Now get to it!."

Naruto brought his hands together just like Jin said. He concentrated focused… and nothing happened. He stayed like that for a while, he looked up Jin. Jin kept his eyes on him "Feel it flowing in your body like when you place your hand in a stream, feel it out." Jin took a seat on the ground. Naruto tried it out. He concentrated tried to "feel it out" _'ugh this is boring what am I supposed to be feeling out'. _"Block out everything else even your own thoughts, force it to move to your fingers." Naruto nodded his head. He tried it again. He concentrated, trying to force it to fingers. There what was that. That was a new feeling. It was warm… it was moving. It started in the stomach moved up to his shoulder through his arm and stopped at his fingers. Naruto opened his eyes.

There on his fingers a blue glow. Naruto's eyes widened he smiled, he did it. The glow was getting bigger the warm feeling getting hotter. "KID CALM IT DOWN!" Naruto tried to push it back but it kept coming he pulled his hands apart. Losing his concentration the chakra exploded Naruto was launched back. Jin went over to Naruto and helped him up. "You were doing well Naruto what happened?" Naruto shook his head "I don't know Jin I tried to force it back down but it kept coming." Jin rubbed his chin thoughtfully "Try it again." Naruto shook his head "But what happens if it explodes again?" Jin patted Naruto's head "It'll be fine as long as you keep your concentration, eventually it'll second nature." Naruto put his hands together reluctantly. He concentrated again. He felt the same warm feeling and forced it to his hands again.

The same blue aura surrounded hands. He kept concentrating trying to regulate how much chakra he was moving to his hands. He was doing a good job at first, but it was getting harder and harder. Sweat was rolling down on Naruto's forehead he started breathing hard he couldn't stop it anymore. Jin saw the exertion that Naruto was putting out. _'What the hell? Kids younger then Naruto don't have this hard a time focusing… wait what about the fox? Maybe that's causing problems. Maybe Saigo can help me out.'_ "Alright Naruto that'll be all for today c'mon I've got some stuff I need to do today, while I do that you can visit your little girlfriend." Naruto blushed and denied the claim. Jin laughed and walked off.

Making there way to the merchant quarter he noticed that people would occasionally stare at him. Instead of glares, however, people were giggling, especially the girls. At first he couldn't figure it out, finally deciding to ask Jin he turned noticing his attire then turned back and noticed what he was wearing, he smiled to himself and continued on. Finally arriving Naruto noticed that the merchant nomads set up there own shopping area. Naruto and Jin scanned each of the wagons to see if they could find Kasumi. They found her in a wagon selling the long robes that the merchants were wearing. Upon seeing the two Kasumi smiled "Hey cutie nice coat." Naruto blushed, Jin laughed, and Kasumi winked at him. Naruto's face became red he looked down at the floor and mumbled something about stupid girls. Jin patted Naruto's head "Alright Naruto I'll be back in a little bit; have fun with your girlfriend." Jin walked off laughing with Naruto cursing him.

Jin walked away from the mainstream shops, and down to the poorer area. He turned into an alley and continued walking. Beggars came up asking for change, windows were broken on several of the stores. Jin smirked at the sight, it never changed. Finding his destination Jin walked into a shop that seemed better off, not by much. Inside it was dusty, the wood was rotted, and the man behind the counter was reading a little orange book. Jin walked to one of the display racks, only one sword was present. Jin picked it up took the blade out and examined it. The quality of the blade was flawless. Jin focused his chakra in it wind began to gather around the blade.

"If you're not going to buy the damn thing get out." The man behind the counter said. "You know Saigo this blade won't sell if you don't move your shop out of this dump." Jin said as he walked to the counter. Saigo sighed and snapped his book shut "Been a while Jin." Jin placed three swords on the counter "How much?" Saigo picked up the swords one by one and examined them "Three ANBU katana's Konoha if I'm not mistaken. Hmm… I'll give you the usual." Jin was tapping his fingers on the counter. "There something else you need Jin?" Saigon placed the swords behind his counter. "Yeah need some information, about something regarding a kid I've decided to teach." Saigon stared at Jin "Since when do teach anybody?" Jin waved him off "Since now, now let me finish. Anyway kid's got a real weird seal on him don't know jack about seals, so I was wondering if you knew anybody who did." Saigo looked thoughtful for a moment then snapped his fingers "Yeah I know a guy, comes in here occasionally, we talk sometimes says he used to be this high and mighty ninja way back in the old days." 

"Okay Saigo, and you know he uses seals how?" Saigo reached behind the counter and pulled out a kunai. "He put this seal on the kunai dumb ass." Jin took the kunai and examined it. _'Hmmm… the quality is superb. Though this seal what the hell does it do.' _"So what does it do?" Saigo snatched the kunai back "If you allow the seal to absorb some of your chakra before you throw it, it uses it to propel the kunai almost indefinitely." Jin shrugged. "So you know where this guy lives?" Saigo took out a piece of paper wrote down some directions and handed it to Jin along with some cash. "Alright there you are, and here's your cash." Jin mumbled thanks and walked out of the store.

Jin cursed at the directions. Eventually leading him to an area even he had never been before Jin approached the building this so called seal user resided in. Jin knocked on the door. He waited, waited, and waited. He knocked again, harder this time. Hearing someone cursing and mumbling something about rude people the door opened. The man standing at the door was older if Jin had to guess he would say about sixty maybe older. His hair was black with several gray spots. He was almost as tall as Jin was. The most distinguishing feature was the cloth that was wrapped around his eyes. _'He's blind?' _ Jin thought.

"Well you gonna say something or you gonna just stand there looking stupid all day?" The old man spat out. Jin snapped out it "Sorry... I'll be blunt, I'm here because I heard that you're good with seals." Jin saw the old man visibly stiffen. "Come inside." Jin followed him. The closed Jin turned around _'Wait something's wrong'_ Jin spun around to see a fist heading straight for his face. Jin sidestepped, but the old man pressed the attack. One fist, two, three, it seemed like they wouldn't stop coming. Seeing that he wasn't landing any blows the old man stopped and hopped back onto a table. "Who sent you?" Jin shrugged "Nobody just heard from Saigon that you were good with seals." The old man relaxed "Saigon sent you? Well then you can't be all bad then… I apologize it's just people like us have to be careful." Jin found himself agreeing with him before realizing what he was saying. "Wait what the hell do mean people like us?" The old man smiled at Jin "I'm sure you know."

The old man led Jin to a sitting room in the back. Taking a seat Jin examined the room. It was bare plain walls a fireplace no window not even a picture. The old man coughed to get Jin's attention. "So what can I do for you." "Yeah recently I've found me an apprentice I wish to train. Problem is he can't even mold chakra properly I believe it has something to with the seal he's got on his stomach. Thing is I don't know anything about seals, so I asked Saigon about it and he directs me to you." The old man didn't respond for a while. "Alright bring the kid here later in the evening and I'll take a look at it. Now if don't have anything else to do get out." Jin stood up thanked him for his time and left.

When Jin finally walked out of sight Naruto turned back to Kasumi to find she was still smiling at him. He kept blushing and stared down at his feet. "You know that man really didn't think when he left you here did he? I mean I could've been busy for the whole day or we could've been leaving." Hearing this Naruto looked up with a crestfallen face. Kasumi winked at him "It's a good thing I can take a break so we can do something isn't it." Naruto cursed under his breath. _'How the hell can she get under my skin so easily?' _Kasumi jumped off the cart and ran to tell an older woman where she was going. Once that was done the two set off walking around checking all the shops. The two talked about everything and nothing. Eventually the two stopped at a small ramen stand for lunch. Naruto quickly said that Jin left him no money, but was quickly silenced when Kasumi offered to pay for him.

Naruto thanked her and took a seat. He restrained himself and only ordered one bowl. After that the conversation seemed to die. The silence was… comfortable Naruto thought it wasn't the quiet that he had become used to back in Konoha. Naruto was almost finished with his Ramen when Kasumi finally spoke up. "Naruto I'm leaving tomorrow." Naruto put down his bowl and looked at her "We'll see each other again won't we?" Kasumi smiled "Yeah I'm sure we will."

As Naruto was about respond he felt a pressure on his shoulder. Turning back he found Jin behind him. Jin looked back and forth between the two kids "Did I… interrupt something?" Kasumi smiled politely at him and hopped off her seat "No sir we were just talking. I better get going now anyway I'll see you later Naruto." Kasumi walked away. "Get into a fight with your girlfriend kid?" Jin frowned a little _'Maybe I should've waited.'_ "Alright kid, I think I found someone who can help you out." As if the previous event never happened Naruto smiled at Jin "Really" he asked. Jin nodded "Yeah he said he needed to see you." Taking Naruto's hand the two of them walked off.

As the two were walking Naruto looked up at Jin "Hey Jin ." "Yeah" "Can we go see off Kasumi tomorrow?" "Yeah we can do that." Naruto smiled. Finally reaching the same building Jin knocked. They waited, waited, and waited some more Jin knocked harder. He smiled as heard the same voice cursing people for bugging him. The door opened Naruto stared at the old man in the doorway. The man snorted "So you two gonna come in or are you gonna stand there looking stupid all day." The two walked in. He led the two to a back room, the only thing within was a table. The old man turned around "Alright kid get on the table and show me your seal." Naruto looked up at Jin confused. "The thing on your stomach" Naruto nodded his head in understanding. He approached the table, and sat on it. Cautiously he took off his coat then shirt. The old man moved up to Naruto, placing a hand on his stomach. Naruto let out a laugh.

"Hmmm… whoever did this was a master in every sense of the word. They must have built this from the ground up." The old man pulled his hands away from Naruto and began laughing. As Jin was watching he couldn't help but notice habits that made this guy seem off. His blows they were precise, too precise especially for a blind man. Another thing Jin didn't know about seals, but he was positive that seal on Naruto's was to smooth to garner any details from by just touch. Jin was jarred from his thoughts when he heard the laughing. "Something funny old man" Jin said a little harsher then he meant to. "Sorry it's just I've never seen anything like this." "Seen?" "Yeah anyway you want the kid to hear this?" Jin motioned to Naruto "Hey Naruto step out of the room for a minute would you?" Naruto hopped off the table and walked out the door. Once the door had shut the old man sat down on the table. "Which Bijuu does he have in him?" "He's got the Kyuubi in him." The old man's face scrunched up "I see…" Jin leaned against the wall "How'd you know he had something like that in him?" The old man looked up "You fought enough of us in the war to figure out how I did it Devil Sword Jin." Jin's eyes widened for a second before a word escaped his lips "Hyuuga."

Jin chuckled then laughed "The one place Kumo would never look for what they wanted so bad eh?" "Yeah I've been here for ten years and they've never suspected, I don't know whether to be proud for eluding them for so long or appalled at the fact that this village was once feared by Konoha." Jin couldn't argue either Kumo was losing its edge or this guy was that good. "Anyway you think you can help him?" The Hyuuga rubbed the bridge of his nose "I think so, the thing about that particular seal is that it was designed to convert the Bijuu's chakra into the boys own." Jin looked towards the door "So you're telling me he's basically got an unlimited chakra source in him." "That's right, but that's also part of the problem, the boys chakra is clashing with the Kyuubi's. There's always a set amount that tries to suppress what's not being converted, because of that the boy's body tries to compensate by continually making the boy's chakra reserves larger. From what it looks like, however, whenever the boy's body produces more chakra the amount that also has to be suppressed increases. If this persists the only thing he'll be good is using jutsu that expends gross amounts of chakra." Jin was pacing _'Damn it! Since when did things become so complicated!' _He turned toward the Hyuuga "Alright what can you do about it?"

The Hyuuga hopped off the table and started for the door "I don't know anything about Bijuu chakra, so I can't make anything that would help with that. There is an alternative, however." Jin looked up he didn't like where this was going. "If I can get a hold of a certain type of chakra ore." The Hyuuga looked directly into Jin's eyes "I think I can come up with something that would merge it with the boys seal, allowing the excess Kyuubi chakra to become absorbed into the ore. I need it to be forged in a specific way, and some time to study the seal more. Let me copy it from the boy's stomach and I'll write down how I need it made." The two walked out of the room. Jin motioned Naruto over who was standing off in the corner. "Alright kid let him see that thing on your stomach again." Naruto nodded and lifted up his shirt again. The Hyuuga bent down on one knee and examined it. He stayed that way for several minutes. The Hyuuga stood up and walked into another room Jin followed him. All the room's walls were covered with papers each one depicting a different design on it, in the middle was a table that the old man was writing at an alarming rate on.

Not wanting to bother him while he worked Jin directed Naruto to one side of the room, the two of them were examining the different papers. "Jin what're these?" "Seals, don't know much about them except they can be some of the most difficult things to deal with." At that moment the Hyuuga appeared behind pair "Alright I finished; here's what I need Saigo to make, usually modifying something like this would take anywhere from a month to a lifetime but… since I have nothing better to do come back in a couple days." Jin nodded and the two left. Jin and Naruto made there way back home. "Hey Jin." "Yeah" "Is that thing on my stomach a seal?" "Yeah" "Is that guy gonna fix it?" "Yeah" Before he knew Naruto was standing in front of the to Jin's room. "Naruto go to the training hall and find yourself a wooden sword you like, I'll be back in a little bit." Naruto nodded and walked off. Jin entered his room. It was simple, a desk, a bed, and a window the only distinguishing feature was the sword rack which held five katana's. He took one off the rack, it had a red sheathe with a gold dragon encircling it. He pulled the blade from it, he ran his finger along the edge stopping at the crack in the middle.

Jin sighed and replaced it. He walked to the desk and opened a drawer. There in the middle a cloth wrapped around something. Jin reached in and picked it up. He uncovered it. It was a jet black rock. He quickly covered it back up and walked out of his room. Jin made his on the familiar path to Saigo's shop. He was still behind the counter with that little orange book out. Jin paid no mind to and put the piece of paper the Hyuuga made for him on table. "I need you to make this." Saigo sighed and snapped his book shut. The only time Jin acted like this was when something important was going down. Saigo examined the paper "What am I making this out of." Jin reached into his coat pulled out the wrapped object and placed it on the counter. Saigo picked it up unwrapped it and examined it. Saigo's eyes widened, he dropped the black rock and looked back at Jin. "What the HELL! You know how rare this shit is! If anyone knew you had this you'd be a dead man!" Saigo spoke in a harsh whisper. Jin looked at the door making sure nobody was there. "You know what I did in the past! Why the hell are you so surprised!" Jin spat back. Saigo walked to the front of the store and locked up. "Is this for that kid?" "Yeah." "Shit… alright I'll have it finished tomorrow. This one's a freebie, but you have to let me meet the kid." Jin nodded. "Leave out the back." Jin nodded again and made his way out through the back exit.

Naruto made his way through the expansive hallways. He had to admit walking through here by himself it was a little creepy. He picked up the pace a little. Naruto walked into the training room. It floors still shining the sun peaking through the windows, Naruto made his way over to one of the side walls. Naruto looked at the training weapons. Picking up the first one he saw, he gave it a practice swing. He stumbled a bit as he overbalanced himself. _ 'Let's try another one.'_ He replaced it and picked up another one. This one was a bit lighter he tried it out. He liked it. "Take the one you had before." Naruto jumped turned around and found Jin there in the doorway staring at him. Naruto glared "DON'T DO THAT!" Jin waved him off "Sorry, sorry." He approached Naruto "Anyway that's yours now you're going to use that for training till I feel you're ready for a real one." Naruto looked down at the sword in his hands "You sure Jin?" "Yeah I'm sure. Now c'mon I think it's about time I made some dinner."

The sun shone through the window lighting up Naruto's face. He cracked his eye open, slowly opening his eyes to let them adjust to the light. He still couldn't believe how much his life had changed in such a short amount of time. He smiled as he got out of bed. He opened his door to find Jin there ready to knock. "Oh so you're up, well get ready you wanted to see your little girlfriend off didn't you." Naruto was about to deny it when he realized what Jin said. He rushed past a smiling Jin.

The two of them made there way over to the merchant district just in time to see the wagons about to pull out. Naruto rushed ahead looking around frantically for his friend. There in the back she was getting on the last wagon. He ran over to her as fast as his legs could take him. Naruto stopped in front of Kasumi seeing her smiling at him. "Did you come all the way here just to see me off Naruto." Naruto nodded his head. "Thanks" she said. Naruto was about to open his mouth when she surprised him with a kiss on his cheek. Naruto's face turned beet red, whatever he was about to say was lost in his throat. Kasumi giggled, put something in Naruto's pocket, and climbed onto the wagon. "Bye Naruto I'll see you around." With that the wagon rolled off. Jin slapped his face _'Damn it kid were gonna have to work on your nerves.'_ He walked up to Naruto and patted his head. "It's alright you'll see her again, I mean c'mon I saw the kiss she gave you." Jin winked.

Naruto looked down embarrassed. "C'mon kid were going to see someone who wanted to meet you." Naruto followed both sad and confused, wondering why he couldn't get out what he wanted to say. Naruto finally noticed where they were when the first beggar tugged on his coat asking for some change. Jin reached into his coat pulled out some coins and threw them behind him. "Need to be aware of where we are so things like that don't happen okay." They eventually reached Saigo's shop to find it closed. Jin pounded the door. No answer. He tried again "We're closed today." "Damn it Saigo open up the damn door." Mumbles were heard as the door was opened. Naruto looked at the man called Saigo. He was small but built. His hair was long and unkempt. His hands had multiple scars. His face was also scarred, though not as much as his hands, but his nose looked like it was crooked.

Saigo looked Naruto up and down "This the kid… doesn't look like much." Jin pushed Saigo to the side "We'll talk inside, you know it's kind of rude having your guests stand outside." Saigo looked left and right making sure no one else was in the alley before locking shop back up. Saigo turned around to find that Jin and Naruto were facing him. "Alright kid this is Saigo best damn blacksmith you could ever find, Saigo this is Naruto found him in Konoha about to get his ass kicked by some jackasses." Saigo walked forward and extended his hand out "Hey kid nice to meet you." Naruto shook his hand "Yeah same here." "Those whiskers birth marks or something." Naruto shrugged "I don't know they've always been there." "Huh alright anyway Jin I finished it." Saigo motioned for the two others to follow them into the back. The room they stopped in was littered with weapons of all shapes and forms. Naruto marveled at it. Saigo walked to a table and picked up an object that looked like a tuning fork. "Alright Jin here you go made to the specifications that you wanted." Jin examined it "You use all of it?" Saigo shrugged "Had to took all my skill not get killed handling the stuff." "Shit Saigo your still as good as ever." Saigo grinned "Damn straight."

Jin looked over at Naruto "One more thing, I need to commission you for a job." Saigo groaned "What kind of job." Jin smirked "Need you to make a sword for the kid there, doesn't have to be made right away, just giving you a heads up for later." Saigo looked over to Naruto "Yeah I think I can do that." "Thanks Saigo." Jin turned around and walked away passing Naruto who had picked up a small kunai "Put that down kid were leaving." Naruto put the kunai down and followed. As they left the shop Naruto noticed that they were heading towards the strange old man's place that they visited yesterday. Jin knocked on the door. They waited, waited, and waited. Jin sighed and knocked harder. He heard the familiar cursing as the door opened. "Damn it I told you it would take me longer to finish what I needed to do." Jin brushed him off "Yeah, yeah I heard you I just thought you might need this more then me. Jin held out the fork wrapped in cloth. The Hyuuga examined it "Huh this probably would help me in the long run. Alright I take it back your not as stupid as you look. Now get out of here I still need more time come back tomorrow." The Hyuuga slammed the door on Jin.

"Huh… that went well." Jin said. "Alright kid… how about we see a movie?" "What's a movie?" Jin looked at Naruto like he had two heads "You've never seen a movie?" Naruto shook his head. Jin smiled "Well kid your in for a treat." By the end most of the people left the theater. Naruto was yelling and screaming for more, the poor boy was on the edge of his seat about to fall off as the movie reached it's climax. Jin shook his head, he had to pay off the movie owner to keep from being banned for life he would have on that to. The end credits rolled and Naruto collapsed into his seat "THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" Jin stood up "Yeah well I'm glad you enjoyed it, but next try not to scare anyone away from the movie." Naruto looked around to see the empty theater "Ah he he… yeah." He turned back to Jin to see he already started for the door. "Wait for me!" Naruto shouted as he followed after Jin.

It was evening when the two arrived back. Jin patted Naruto on the shoulder "Alright kid I'm going to bed. Been a long day and I'm tired. You can do what you want, as long as you don't leave." With that Jin walked off. Not having anything else to do Naruto decided to go to his room. He sat on his bed when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the wooden sword Jin had given him. _'Well I'm not really tired anyway.' _He grabbed the object of his attention and made his way to the training room. He walked into the center of the room held the sword out in front of him and took a swing. He stumbled a bit. _'Huh? Jin made it seem so easy.'_ He tried again swinging harder and faster this time. He couldn't keep his balance this time falling down. He got up frustrated, he thought back to the way Jin did when he saw him. _'Wait Jin was using one hand… maybe that'll work.' _Jin took the new approach trying to swing using one hand. He brought the sword over his head brought it down. The sword slipped from Naruto's hand and flew towards the door.

Jin's stomach groaned then Jin groaned _'Damn it should've eaten before I got in bed.'_ He walked towards the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. Making his way back to his room he heard something. He stopped and listened for it again… there an annoyed grunt. He changed direction and walked to the source. He slid the door open just in time to see Naruto trying to swing a sword with one hand. Jin tried to comment, but was to late as the sword slipped out of his hand. Naruto gasped and covered his eyes as he saw where the sword was going to hit. The usual crash of wood against skull that accompanied this type of situation wasn't heard. Naruto cracked his eye open Jin stood there sandwich in one hand sword in the other. "You know Naruto I was just about to warn against trying that." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief but quickly his face became marred by frustration. Jin turned around and opened the door back up "Hey don't worry to much about it. Eventually you'll be able to do this stuff in your sleep. Hard work is all it takes." Naruto sighed and followed him out for the night.

Naruto woke up early, a little to early to his liking. He looked out to see the sun barely rising over the horizon. He stretched, he didn't want to go back to sleep. He walked down the hallways towards the bathroom. Finishing his morning rituals quickly he made his way to the training room. He opened the door to see Jin's back turned to him in his hand the wooden katana Naruto left there last night. Jin made several slashes, cuts, and thrusts with it. Naruto stared in awe at the masterful way the sword was being handled. He transitioned from each move to the next fluidly, it was as if the previous one was solely done to set up the next one. Jin stopped "Morning." "Morning Jin." Jin turned around "Your up early." Naruto shrugged "Yeah." Jin handed Naruto the training weapon "Careful where you leave this alright." "Okay." "Alright go put it away, I'll start breakfast. We have another busy day, the seal should be done, and I think Ryou was bringing his kid over today." Naruto's eyes lit up thoughts of making a new friend entered his mind he. His mind was on auto-pilot as he returned the weapon. He hastily picked up his coat causing the contents to come out, being that he didn't have much on him he was instantly curious about the round object and the folded paper on the floor. It was smooth to the touch, and was jet black. Naruto stared at it, after a few moments the center seemingly came alive with color. From black to red to blue it continued like that catching Naruto in it's dance. Pulling his gaze away he stared at the folded paper he opened it. Not being the best reader he was only able to make out a small part of it. He left to the kitchen intent on asking Jin to help him.

He found Jin at the table already eating his breakfast Naruto approached him and held the note in front of him. "Jin could you read this to me?" Jin looked up from his plate, he wiped his mouth then took the note "You don't know how to read?" Naruto looked away embarrassed "It's not that I don't know it's just nobody really taught me that much." "Huh… don't worry about it it's just another we'll have to work on yeah?" Jin began to read the not out loud.

_Dear Naruto,_

_Sorry if our goodbye didn't turn out like you wanted. It's just I've never been good at those kinds of things. Instead I wrote you this letter. It was really great meeting you, and I was glad I could be your first friend. I also left you my treasure, I found that a long time ago in village we went through. I'm not giving it to you, I'm just lending it. You can give it back when we see each other again ok._

_Your friend Kasumi_

Jin finished the letter and put it down. "Found yourself a real good friend there Naruto." Naruto nodded his head and just stood there thinking about the letter. "Kid no time to stand eat your breakfast." Naruto looked at Jin to see he was done. Naruto's eyes widened and he began to wolf down his own plate. Seeing that he finished Jin smiled. "Alright first we'll go see about your seal, then Ryou will probably be here later considering he works till the evening." With that the two set off. Navigating the familiar route they soon arrived at the house of the Hyuuga. Jin pounded loudly the first time intent on getting the bastards attention the first time. He waited and waited… and waited. Cursing he knocked louder. The sounds of a man cursing and opening the door were heard, as Jin made motions with his hand to hurry up. "Well you…" Jin cut off the Hyuuga "Yeah stupid something or other can we come in?" The old man snorted and moved to the side. Closing the door the Hyuuga turned around to see Jin staring intently at him. "Did you finish?" The Hyuuga scratched his head "As finished as I can get." Jin noted his tone sounded off. "What do you mean?" The Hyuuga sighed "This isn't easy. Every single inch of a seal has a purpose if I don't use caution in what I do, it could have disastrous results." "Why don't you take more time then?" "If I did that I'd probably never get it any better then I've got it now. To make progress I need the original notes that made this seal." Jin slapped his hand to his face, he made a mental note never to mess with this kind of crap again. "What are we looking at then." The Hyuuga shrugged "If it works like I intended then that demonic chakra should be converted at a much faster rate due to the focus Saigo made. At worst the kid explodes in a blast of chakra I don't what magnitude where looking but it'll be something to look at." Naruto's eyes widened and he let out a gasp. Jin squeezed the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Uh huh… and in your opinion which is the most likely to happen." The Hyuuga was rubbing his temples "Well the seal itself is quite stable, and I'm not trying to alter it I'm trying to add. Problem is I don't know how the damn would react to it. So in my opinion it could go either way." Jin contemplated on what to do.

He wasn't going to force the kid that was given, but even if the kid wanted to do it would he let him. He didn't want the kid dying, and there was also the chance that he would end taking EVERYONE with him yeah… that would really suck. _'Screw I'll let the kid decide.'_ Jin turned towards the small boy "Naruto what do you want to do?" Naruto looked up with wide eyes at Jin. Naruto really had no idea what to do. On the one hand he could do it hope it works, and if it does have Jin teach a bunch of really cool things. On the other he could explode. Jin had an unreadable expression on his face, it looked like Naruto was on his own at the moment. _'Jin hasn't done anything to hurt me so far…' _After what seemed like an eternity to Naruto he decided. "I'll… do it." Jin let go of a breath he didn't know he held. Jin started rubbing the back of his neck "You sure Naruto, this is one of those choices in life that you can't take back once you've decided." Naruto nodded his head "I'm sure about this Jin." Jin looked towards the Hyuuga "Alright then we've got to set this up." The Hyuuga clapped his hands together "Alright then now that we agree we all lost our minds, follow me." They proceeded to follow the Hyuuga to the room Naruto had his initial examination. The Hyuuga approached walked to the center and moved the table. He then took out a kunai and slashed his thumb. Naruto and Jin both looked on with interest. The Hyuuga held his over the spot where the table was and let his blood fall into the middle of the floor.

The blood was absorbed into the ground a seal materializing. Soon the seal and the section of floor the blood fell onto disappeared. "Damn" Jin said. The Hyuuga motioned the two to follow him. They started walking down a spiraling staircase. Although Naruto seemed to be mesmerized Jin had other thoughts _'Damn must've taken some serious work to get this kind of set up' _"Hey Hyuuga how'd you get this set up done without anyone noticing?" The Hyuuga smirked, the kind of arrogant smirk that could only belong to a Hyuuga. "You of all people should know the answer to that. It's all about connections right?" Jin's eyes widened at this _'Who the hell does this guy know to get away with something like this.' _There were only a few people high enough on the food chain that could make this happen, unless the Hyuuga did it himself. That would mean he's Doton master of the highest caliber. If that's the case then this guy is stronger then Jin gave him credit for. Naruto on the other hand just wondered how in the world he could see in this place. There didn't seem to be any source of light yet it like looking into a room as the sun seeped in through the window. He scrunched up his face in thought. It was comfortable and awkward at the same time. The Hyuuga didn't like talking particularly much, but on the other hand he was in the company of one of the most deadly men he had ever come across and a kid who had a demon in him. Well at least he was meeting new people, The Hyuuga grinned at his own bad joke. They continued on.

They reached the bottom in silence. Naruto looked up into the pitch darkness trying to see if he could see the top. The Hyuuga motioned them to a door. Naruto took a step forward but was stopped by Jin. "Before we go any further I need to why are you helping me and the kid? You know who I am you know about the kid." The Hyuuga turned around his face had no expression "I also know why you fought and why you loathe ninja the way you do. Even though we were on opposite sides in the war I respect you for what you tried to accomplish. It also doesn't hurt that I'm helping a kid who'll obviously thank me later on." The Hyuuga smirked as he finished. Jin sized up the man in front of him. Really he didn't have a reason to trust him, but there didn't also seem to be a motive for foul play either. Jin was about to voice a remark when he felt a tug on his sleeve, he looked down to see Naruto smiling at him. "Don't worry Jin it'll be fine." Jin now regarded Naruto. The boy showed confidence Jin hadn't seen in him before. Granted he had only known him for a short while, but considering his previous treatment in Konoha it was a little surprising. _'What does the kid see in this guy that I don't?'_ He turned back to the Hyuuga Jin smiled a bit, he seemed to getting impatient. Well he would give it a chance and trust Naruto's judgment, but he swore if the boy died a horrible death he would never do it again. He chuckled at his bad joke, then quickly became serious he didn't want anything bad to happen to him. He started ruffling his hair "AH DAMMIT ALRIGHT LEAD THE WAY!" The huffed and muttered about "about damn time" and opened up a steel door. The trio walked inside. It was almost the same as the room save for it was completely stone, not to mention all the seals placed on the walls and floor. The table in the middle also seemed to be steel as opposed to the wood the other one was made of.

"What are the seals for?" The Hyuuga shrugged "These are a fail safe. They absorb excess amounts of chakra that try to leave this room. This means that no one on the outside will be able to detect what's going on in here." Jin nodded, and the Hyuuga motioned for Naruto to take off his shirt and lay down on the table. Naruto did so. The Hyuuga pulled out the focus from his pocket. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal intricate tattoo pattern. Jin looked at them for a while then he smirked "So those permanent or rub on." The Hyuuga flashed a toothy grin "Permanent of course any self respecting seal master would consider these the most to use in any situation." The Hyuuga touched the seal on Naruto's stomach eliciting a giggle from the boy. "Alright kid I've never done anything like this before so I don't know if there'll be or what so yeah…" Naruto nodded his head closed his eyes and started breathing a little heavily. "Whoa kid calm down it's not that bad." Seeing the way Naruto started getting anxious, Jin started walking towards him and placed a hand on the boys shoulder "It's alright kid I'll be here if anything goes wrong." Naruto seemed to calm down after the contact. The Hyuuga smiled "Much better." The Hyuuga then started going through hand seals, somehow managing to keep the focus from slipping from his hands. Jin looked on in fascination. Forty, fifty, sixty Jin kept like that until he finally stopped at two hundred. When he finished the last one the Hyuuga slammed the focus onto the boy's stomach. At first nothing happened, when suddenly the seals on the Hyuuga's arms came to life. Instead of the black they were they glowed blue. Jin stared it was like waves the way the chakra was moving. The chakra moved from his arms to the focus then to the seal on Naruto's stomach. Everything went bright suddenly Jin closed his eyes. When he opened them his eyes widened. The seals in the room were all glowing red trying to absorb an obscene amount of chakra, Jin looked at Naruto. "WHAT THE HELL'S HAPPENING!" Jin shouted. The Hyuuga was gritting his teeth "The kid's seal is trying to assimilate mine, but the result of the process is allowing some of the demonic chakra to escape!" All the while Naruto was in a state of bewilderment as to what was happening. He didn't feel anything, he looked around the room seeing all the red then back down to his stomach. He saw the item the Hyuuga was holding start to "melt" into his stomach. _'Shouldn't I be screaming at a time like this? Then again I've been through much worse and haven't s…' _his thoughts were cut off as he started feeling something. At first it was tingle, like an itch you can't scratch. Then it started getting worse from a tingle to pain to feeling like he was on fire. Naruto did his best not to scream, he gritted his teeth and gripped the edges of the table tears were flowing down his eyes. Jin looked on as the focus was absorbed into the seal, and how Naruto was biting down so hard blood was running down his cheek.

"WHAT THE FUCK'S HAPPENING TO NARUTO?" Jin yelled out. The Hyuuga was looking on in shock "I never anticipated this." Jin pounded his fist on the table "DAMMIT HYUUGA WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE KID!" Jin demanded. The Hyuuga looked up at Jin "He's, damn I never seen anything like this." "DAMN IT HYUUGA!" "His body is developing another chakra system." The Hyuuga said, the fascination clear in his voice. "HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?!" "I can only offer theories this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. I'm guessing that while trying to assimilate my seal the one on the kid's stomach weakened for a moment leaking a fraction of the demon's chakra. In order to cope with it the boy's body adapted by creating a new chakra system." Jin looked around the room seeing the red recede "Wait, wait, wait your telling me this is a fraction?" "This is all theory remember?" Jin sighed looking down at Naruto seeing him relax considerably. "How does this affect the kid." Trying to gather an acceptable answer the Hyuuga began to examine Naruto after all the chakra had dissipated. "Nothing else seems wrong with the kid, the seal seems alright. As far as I can he seems fine." Jin patted Naruto on the shoulder "You ok kid."

Naruto looked around and unconsciously gripped onto Jin's jacket. He had to admit it whatever happened to him hurt real bad, but it wasn't the worst he's ever suffered. He looked around the room then back down at his stomach, he started to giggle when he felt fingers on his stomach. He looked up at Jin when "Yeah Jin I feel ok." Jin smiled at Naruto then looked towards the seal. "It looks the same as it did before." The Hyuuga smirked "Course it does, I made it that way. If you know what you're looking for, however, it becomes a bit easier." The Hyuuga held his hand over Naruto's stomach and started channeling chakra into it, suddenly several lines on the boy's stomach started to glow slowly forming around the boy's stomach into a shape that looked like it didn't really belong. "Alright Jin, Naruto it's finished…" Before the Hyuuga could finish one of the seals on the wall started to glow red again. Jin was helping Naruto to sit when he noticed the strange anomaly "Is that supposed to be doing that?" Jin said pointing to the seal behind the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga turned around he rubbed his chin thoughtfully before approaching it cautiously. "Interesting, it seems like absorbing the demon chakra has altered this." Jin was handing Naruto his coat to put on. "How?" "Ha, ha, ha I don't know." Jin sweat dropped, the Hyuuga turned back around "Anyway now that that's done it's time you two left I want to spend some time examining this." Naruto was fully dressed now, and Jin had a couple more questions left to ask. As if reading his mind the Hyuuga answered Jin "No you don't owe me anything other then allowing me to count you as a connection. Also don't ask I wouldn't know how to work the boy's new ability." Jin mock saluted. "Alright then back top." The three made there way back up to the Hyuuga's home.

Once back at the Hyuuga's home he quickly shooed them out, complaining about people taking too much of his time. The two made there way back home, the sun was starting to set. "Hey Naruto you sure your ok?" Naruto nodded "Yup I feel better then ever!" Jin kept his eyes on Naruto. He didn't seem any different. _'I guess as long as it fixes his problem it's fine.'_ Jin ruffled Naruto's hair "As long as your sure. Anyway Ryou and his kid should be over soon ok?" Naruto nodded his head vigorously, he finally had a chance to make another friend. Sure he was nervous, but if his experience with Kasumi taught him anything it was to give it a chance. "Hey kid." "Yeah" "Starting tomorrow we'll be working on your training, and since you can't read well I help you with that to." Naruto nodded his head half aware of what Jin was saying. He was still to wrapped up in the idea of making another friend. When they finally arrived home Jin sent Naruto off to clean himself up before company arrived. Jin said something about cooking something for dinner. Naruto did as he was told and changed his clothes. Looking back at the black coat that he hasn't worn yet, he decided that he needed more of these. Dressing in new attire he made his way back to the kitchen. As he got closer he could make out a conversation, he recognized Jin's voice but it took a little while to recognize the other one. Then it hit him, it belonged to that Ryou fellow who watched him while Jin went into that building a couple nights ago. Naruto walked into the kitchen seeing Jin place a couple plates down on the counter, when he did this he noticed Naruto walking into the kitchen. "Hey Naruto we have company, you remember Ryou right." Naruto nodded his head at the man Jin gestured to. Ryou grinned at Naruto "Not even a week here and your already looking like a Jin clone." Naruto looked down at himself "I like these clothes." Jin started laughing "It's the coat, everybody likes the long coat. If I recall correctly Ryou when I told you who my tailor was you had one of your own made." Ryou turned the other way "It wasn't my idea." There was a laugh from behind Ryou, everyone looked to find a boy there. He was a little taller then Naruto, and had wavy dark brown hair. He had brown eyes and his face seemed a little angled. "Yeah right dad you said you were going to wear it everywhere you went, the only thing that stopped you was mom burning it saying 'if your going to wear one of these ridiculous things at least get it fashionable.'" Ryou ruffled the kid's hair "I thought you told you weren't going to tell that to anybody." The kid scratched his chin "I did?" Ryou slapped his face while Jin laughed Naruto looked on in interest at the kid. "Little Ryou sometimes I don't know where I went wrong." "Ah come on old man you know you love me." Ryou sighed "Just go play with Naruto there I've got some things I need to talk to Jin about." Little Ryou, as his dad called him, looked towards Naruto's direction and walked him. Little Ryou smiled and held his hand out "My name's Ryou people call me little Ryou when my dad's around, pleasure to meet you Naruto." Naruto looked on confused at the kid's odd greeting. Seeing Naruto wasn't going to take the initiative little Ryou shook Naruto's hand snapping out of his staring "Um yeah I'm Naruto, It's nice to meet you to… I think." He said that last part in a whisper. "Alright then now that that's out of the way how about we place outside?" Naruto shook his head and lead the little Ryou into the place. Naruto showed him the way to the training room, seeing as how he didn't know any other way to get to the courtyard. When they arrived there the two boys started a game of hide and seek.

Jin handed Ryou a sake bottle. "Jin… the other gangs are getting restless." Jin shrugged "You've been saying that ever since I started shutting down there operations in Lightning Country." Ryou downed his drink and poured another. "Yeah but this time there hiring there own guys to deal with the 'Right Hand'." Jin laughed "Is that what people call me now?" Ryou waved him off "They didn't know your name, had to call you something." Jin poured himself a glass of milk "What's the old thinking of doing then." "Eh after that little demand you put in with him he's been on the war path, literally, he says once you get back to work you've got some work ahead of you. He's finally decided to wipe out the competition." Jin started to laugh "He can't be serious." Ryou shook his head "This time he is." "So the old man finally lost it eh?" "I guess so." Jin sighed just what he fucking needed, a whole new gang war.

The kid's played there game for a little while, and then replaced it by talking to each other. Naruto found out that little Ryou loved dogs and sushi. They talked like that until it was dark just sitting on underneath one of the bigger trees. "Hey Naruto do you have a dream?" Naruto shook his head "I really never thought about it." Little Ryou nodded his head in understanding. "I can understand, some people don't realize they have a dream until later." He then turned to Naruto "But I did I realized my dream. I wish to be the first ninja from my family." Naruto stared on as little Ryou went on to about how he wished to make his father proud. _'Does everyone need a dream? Should I look for one to?' _Naruto was snapped from his thoughts as Ryou stood up from his sitting position. "Well Naruto it's time for me to go my old man's calling." Naruto looked up. "I had a lot of fun today Naruto we should do it again sometime." Naruto nodded his head. "I'll see you later Naruto!" Little Ryou waved and disappeared into the night. Naruto stayed sitting there for a while, until Jin came out to find him.

"Hey kid you have fun." "Yeah" "You make a new friend." Naruto looked at him "I never asked." Jin chuckled "Don't worry you can ask him when you see him again." Naruto looked at him confused "Ryou invited us to dinner next week." Naruto's eyes widened this would be another first for him. "Don't worry kid it'll be fine." With that he helped Naruto up and they proceeded back inside. "Remember kid tomorrow you start learning." Naruto smiled, he really was happy here.

**Sorry sorry meant to get this out sooner then I just kept adding more and more to the chapter. Then I saw the Microsoft Media Conference, and bam Corporeal hits me with the greatest rendition of the Halo theme EVER!!!!!**

**Anyway been thinking if Naruto should any jutsu at all or just a small amount if he does, however, I've decided he won't be learning the Rasengan. Tell me what you guys think yeah. If you think he should learn jutsu leave me some suggestions yeah.**


	7. Naruto and Jin 7: Ambush At The Theater

**Back again with chapter 7, now I'm going to do a time skip. Trying to get them out faster, but you know trying to get into a new college and all that. Anyway just thought I let you know I've been coming up with new ideas for a couple more fanfics. I think they'll be cool but I'm in the brainstorming phase for one and almost have a chapter ready for the other.**

'_One year later'_

Naruto thought to himself. The boy was lying in his bed; usually he was up early practicing. At the moment, however, he couldn't help but reminisce about first arriving here with Jin. Everything seemed like a distant dream then. He was afraid of doing something wrong, afraid it would disappear. He smiled it didn't. Giving out a content sigh he got up from his bed and proceeded to the shower. After fully clothing himself and making a decent breakfast Naruto made his way outside to start his morning exercise. Without even realizing it Naruto stopped in front of the tree that Jin first walked up when he first arrived, and also the one Naruto practiced the technique on ever since. He put his hand on it, the bark looked worn from use and the texture was a lot smoother. He removed his hand and started walking up the tree. He stopped at a rather nasty looking gash. Naruto let out a small laugh remembering how it got there.

_Naruto was excited; he finally made it to the top of the tree. He took a seat on the branch and began looking around for Jin. "JIN!!!" Naruto called out, hearing no response he sighed. Jin had been doing more 'jobs' recently and more often then not that would leave Naruto alone doing the tasks Jin set for him by himself. Naruto didn't really mind that, he was just happy Jin taught him at all. The problem was whenever Naruto finished he could never tell when Jin would show up. It was rather frustrating. He was about to give another shout when he was cut off._

"_Yeah, yeah I'm here kid no need to yell again." Naruto smiled "Look Jin I did it I mastered tree walking." Naruto exclaimed, before walking up and down the tree like it was the easiest thing in the world. Jin smirked. "Oh you did, did you?" Naruto stopped he knew this tone. The tone that Jin only used when he was going to teach Naruto a lesson, before he knew it Jin appeared in front of him. Naruto looked to the side and saw Jin slashing at him from the side. To shocked to keep concentrating Naruto fell from the tree. He closed his eyes ready for impact. It never came, he cracked one eye open to see Jin smiling at him. Jin dropped the boy on the ground "Heh doesn't seem like you mastered it to me." Naruto crossed his arms and pouted "No fair you cheated." Jin let out a laugh "Not really in fact I think I'm being quite nice, now get back to it. Continue on until you can move around on that tree as easily as you move around on the ground."_

Naruto snapped out of his trance and walked down. Jin said he would take him and Ryou to a movie later today, after he took care of some business. It was one of the few days that Jin would allow him some slack. Most of the time he was busy training or learning something new, because of this it was hard to get any free time. He wouldn't complain, Naruto was having too much fun. He reached the bottom and began his morning training routine. Naruto started doing pushups. If he finished early he could go see what Ryou was doing. He frowned a little bit, in the year that he got to know him Ryou became his best friend. Not to say he forgot about Kasumi, he thought about her a lot. What did bother him though was his determination to become a ninja. He was a little conflicted on this. Why did people want to be ninja anyway? Naruto stood up and shrugged he would think about it later.

Jin was sitting across from a shaking man. "W-W-What do you want?" Jin sighed "I'm pretty sure you can figure it out." He began breathing hard as he looked at what was left of his guards. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT!!!" Jin looked at him funny "Kill you? I wasn't sent here to do that idiot. I didn't kill your boys either. If you took the time to look you would see there still breathing." The man didn't calm down in the slightest "You you're lying i…" he never finished. He grabbed his chest wheezed and fell over. Jin got up from his chair and approached him, he kicked his foot. _'Ah shit this is a new one.'_ Jin came to a crossroad, on the one hand this guy ordered his men to kill on sight that was just bad manners, on the other hand he was supposed to try and get this guy to join up with Mishima. Jin heard a groan. He looked behind him, one of the guards was coming to. Jin walked over and picked him up by his collar. "Hey buddy." The man groaned again, Jin slapped his cheek. "Wake up." The thug's eyes opened, he focused on Jin's face and gasped when he realized who it was. "Yeah, yeah big scary man I've heard it before, listen up your boss just keeled over I don't think he's fully dead yet. If you hurry and get him to the hospital I think he'll be fine. Oh and if he does make it through tell him that Mishima only wanted your boss to join him." The man slowly nodded his head. Jin smiled and dropped him "Good." Jin walked out of the building _'I told Ryou I'm not good with talking to people, but would he listen noooo hell I nearly scared the dumb bastard to death. If we just did things my way everything would have been done already.'_

'_No time to think about that now. Promised to take Naruto and his friend to a movie, wonder what they wanna see.'_ Jin chuckled to himself thinking about the first time he took Naruto to a movie. _'Since then the damn boy can't get enough of them.'_ He couldn't blame him, other than hanging out with Ryou and training the boy didn't really have any other hobbies, well he did read a lot. At least his training didn't suffer, seeing how Naruto spent most of his time practicing techniques. Naruto was doing exceptionally well in Jin's opinion, since getting that seal modified the boy's chakra, his chakra control has become exceptionally precise. It didn't hurt either that Ryou's boy was a good friend to Naruto. Granted he did have dreams of being a ninja. At least Mishima was helping out. Jin frowned a little, even though it was really good help that boy had quite a future ahead. Mishima had promised to fund Ryou's 'ninja training' nuke-nin trainers, jutsu scrolls, even the occasional corrupt Kumo Ninja. Only reason that Mishima did it was because he wanted Ryou's boy to climb high up the ladder. Having someone he could use as a ninja could be beneficial, especially if the ninja had the influence of an ANBU Captain. He shook the thoughts from his head, and continued on.

Naruto made his way across town, people greeting him as he passed by. He greeted them back with a smile on his face; Naruto never grew tired of it. As he made his way to Ryou's house he stopped in front of the movie theater to just glance at what was playing. He scowled a little he had seen most of these already, none of them were particularly good. He was about to leave when he noticed a new poster. "Princess Fuun" Naruto mumbled to himself, this was new "Cool." Maybe they could see this. With those thoughts he went on. He arrived at Ryou's house; it was a small quaint place. When Naruto first visited he instantly felt at ease in it. After that it was like a home away from home, the two of them had spent most of there free time together. From watching movies to heading to the local library turns out that the two had similar interests. Occasionally Naruto would visit his friend to find him training; what was odd about it, Naruto thought, was that he would have someone new training him every few weeks. Naruto asked about it once, little Ryou told him that learning jutsu was different from what Naruto learned. Naruto didn't see the big deal, make some funny symbols with your hands and you can blow fire out of your mouth, vomit up some mud, maybe create a copy of yourself. Granted Naruto thought some of it was really cool, but in the end every ninja Jin fought ended getting beaten… badly. Besides living with Jin for a year, Naruto's opinion of ninjas wasn't the greatest. It also didn't help that little Ryou was rather boisterous about his abilities going on about how he would be one of the great ninjas of Kumo one day. Those instances weren't that often, though, so Naruto didn't hold it against him… to much.

Naruto reached Ryou's home. It wasn't that big but it was nice enough with a nice cozy feel to it. It was white like most of the other buildings in Kumo and it seemed to be made out of stone. All in all, in Naruto's opinion, it was just like most of the other houses he'd seen in this area. He knocked on the front door humming to himself. _'Hope he isn't training again.' _The door opened up. A middle aged woman looked around; Naruto waved at her "Hi Kimiko-san how are you today!" The woman regarded Naruto for a second and smiled. "I'm doing fine, how about you Naruto-kun are you working hard?" Kimiko, Ryou's wife, was short woman with long black hair and black eyes. When Naruto had first visited Ryou's wife she had instantly taken a liking to the boy treating him like a second son. It also didn't help matters when she found out he was living with Jin something about not having a good female influence in his life. Ever since then Naruto has been learning things here and there from her. In Naruto's opinion he would have to agree with Jin's opinion of her a 'quaint housewife.' Didn't mean she wasn't pretty though, she could still make Naruto blush. He smiled back at her "I'm doing well Jin let me have the day off and said he would take me and Ryou to a movie today." Kimiko nodded and motioned for him to come in "Oh yes I remember little Ryou saying something like that… did you see anything interesting?" Naruto nodded his head "There was a new poster up for a movie call 'Princess Fuun' it looked like it would be fun." Kimiko nodded knowingly "I remember them advertising that recently it stars the actress Yukie Fujikaze it looks like a good movie." The two arrived in the living room "Naruto-kun little Ryou is out back finishing up his practice for the day you two can play until Jin comes to get you two." With that she walked into the kitchen.

Naruto watched Kimiko retreat into the kitchen fully before making his way out back. It was a small sized backyard. A couple of trees and shrubs decorated the backyard all surrounded by a tall picket fence. He looked around a bit and found little Ryou in the middle of the yard performing hand seals. It didn't seem like he was performing any jutsu in particular, more like trying to build up speed doing as many seals as he could. Naruto grinned it seemed that little Ryou hadn't noticed him yet. Drawing in as much breath as Naruto's lungs could hold "HEY RYOU!!!!!!!!!!!" The shriek of a banshee pierced through little Ryou's ears, startled he formed his horse seal wrong causing his chakra to react oddly blowing up in front of him. Little Ryou flew back landing on his back blinking he looked to the left finding Naruto rolling on the floor laughing at him. "Oh… hey Naruto what's up?" Naruto stood up again and started dusting himself off. He never could quite figure out why that never bothered little Ryou. He would chalk it up to little Ryou never being and irritable person. Ryou got up and ran over to Naruto showing no signs of the earlier injuries "So… how've you been?" Naruto grinned "Great Jin finally started to teach me some Taijutsu moves!" Little Ryou tilted his head to the side and put his finger under his chin "But I thought you were learning Kenjutsu?" Naruto gave him a thumbs up "I am it's just that Jin said 'there are gonna be times when you don't have access to your sword when that happens surprise the bastard attacking you!'" Little Ryou nodded his head agreeing with the statement "That settles it then! We're gonna spar and you show me what you're learning." Little Ryou slammed his fist into his palm to emphasize his point. Naruto nodded, used to his friends antics. The two friends faced each other in the center of the yard. They both nodded in acknowledgement that they were ready to begin.

Naruto took the initiative and charged his opponent. Expecting this Ryou's hands quickly began to form seals **"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!" **Fireballs shot forth from Ryou's mouth screaming through the air towards Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened slightly _'that's a new one'_ he began to dodge left and right as the balls of flame passed him. Curious Naruto turned his head back briefly, still running, to see what the damage was. They exploded against one of the smaller trees, fully expecting said tree to explode in flames Naruto was a little surprised to find the only damage done were small scorch marks. Then it hit him _'a diversion'_ he turned his attention back to his opponent to find him still standing there, a smirk on his face. Determined Naruto continued with his attack. Reaching Ryou he lashed out a fist intent on knocking his friend unconscious. Ryou still had that smirk on his even when it go to the point where dodging the fist was impossible.

Naruto's eyes widened when his fist passed through Ryou's head dispersing the clone. "DAMN!" As the clone vanished a kunai flew past Naruto's eyes. _'He's getting better with his aim.'_ Naruto back flipped and flicked a kunai into a nearby bush. A quick yip sound was followed by Ryou rolling out of a bush. Capitalizing on the advantage Naruto rushed him as fast as he could, launching a vicious kick Naruto caught Ryou in the chest. Hearing the tell tale 'poof' sound of a replacement Naruto looked to see his target replaced with a log. After the ferocity of his kick smashed the log in two he resumed his search for his opponent. Naruto sweat dropped when he finally found him, Ryou's mother had brought out some snacks, apparently forgetting about their spar, and decided to take a seat and help himself. Naruto walked over slowly he never could tell if this was a trap or not. Little Ryou was easily distracted and seemed to be absent minded at times. However, Naruto would never discount the fact that little Ryou was extremely good at coming up with really good plans. Not to mention with the way things are going now he's going to know more jutsu then most of the Kumo ninja forces combined, but that's not to say he doesn't have any drawbacks. Aside from the fact that a stray tumbleweed can distract Ryou from what's he's doing the poor guy's chakra reserves are low for someone who wants to be a Ninjutsu specialist. Deciding that he would have to help Ryou out with chakra problem later he took a seat next to his friend. Ryou took a drink of his tea sighing in satisfaction. "It really is a nice day today isn't it Naruto?" Naruto stared at Ryou intently "Weren't we fighting just a few seconds ago?" Ryou looked thoughtful for a moment "We were?" Naruto sweat dropped "Never mind forget it." Naruto snatched a rice ball from the tray and started eating.

"So Naruto what's on the agenda for today?" Naruto grinned "Jin said he would take us to the movies today." Ryou tapped his finger on his chin "Really… anything look interesting?" Naruto shrugged "Eh same old same old except for one thing, but I don't know I don't think it's your cup of tea." Ryou looked down at his empty tea cup then back up to Naruto "What do you mean?" Naruto stood up dramatically posing _'alright gotta do this right.' _ He thought to himself "WHY IT'S ONLY THE GREATEST CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE TO EVER BE RELEASED IN OUR GENERATION!" Ryou filled his cup with more tea "That's nice." Naruto face faulted "That's all you have to say!?" Ryou took a drink from his cup "That was the only movie we haven't seen wasn't it?" Naruto sweat dropped again little Ryou was the only one that could see through like glass. "Ah come it doesn't look half bad it's called 'Princess Fuun' and the movie poster looked really cool." Little Ryou nodded his head "Ok then let's go to the theater then." Naruto stood "Alright then."

The two boys left Ryou's house and made the trek to the movie theater. "Ryou are sure it was alright leaving without telling your mom?" Little Ryou looked at Naruto thoughtfully "I did?" Naruto sweat dropped "Never mind." The two enjoyed the sights of the city until they heard a scream. The two stopped everyone in the streets went about there business. Both shrugged and started walking again when they heard the scream more clearly this time. They looked at each other then for the source of the scream. "Naruto did you hear that?" Naruto nodded his head "Think we should see what's going on?" Naruto nodded his head again. Curiosity getting the better of them the two boys made there way over to the area where scream came from. It was weird, a couple of seconds ago they were in a street bustling with people but now it seemed to be empty the buildings run down. The most notable difference that the two noticed was the lack on any ninja police. The two continued on until they came upon an alleyway that emitted sounds of struggle.

Walking in they found the source of the scream. Three men were hustling an older man and what appeared to be his daughter. Most of the time Naruto wouldn't see a problem with this, however, when he looked closer it became apparent by the victims clothing that they had at least some semblance of wealth. If it were true that these people were loaded then at least one ninja would be around diffusing the situation. Another thing the attackers were all young. Late teens in Naruto's estimation, they were all dressed in similar colors also. _'A gang' _Naruto thought. He had to rethink that if they were a gang then most likely they wouldn't be messing with these kind of people. _'Ah… Jin is so much better than me at this analyzing thing.' _Feeling a tap on his shoulder Naruto turned his head to Ryou. "Should we help?" Naruto turned back to the scene to see the men advance on the two victims. Biting his lower lip he slowly nodded his head. Little Ryou mock saluted "ROGER ROGER!" He loudly exclaimed and quickly went through hand seals.

"**Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" **The entire scene in the alleyway stopped as the occupants turned to see who shouted. Seeing a blonde boy at the entrance of the alley the thugs all smirked. The one closest to Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife "Well kid lo…ACK!?" Before he could continue any further the thug was grabbed by a pair of hands around his ankles and pulled down. His body descended into the ground until only his head was visible, the thug trying in vain to get out. A young boy rose out from the ground, a cheerful grin on his face. Ryou took in the surrounding people shock clearly on there faces, not expecting a child to be the one to disable one of the attackers. Ryou smiled at them and waved "Hi!" Everyone face-faulted. The thugs quickly recovered and each pulled out knives "Alright kid you had your fun now we'll have ours." Ryou, ignoring him, began to rub his head deep in thought "Eh Naruto do you know if we're getting popcorn at the movies today?" The thugs stopped again and looked at the kid confused "What the hell are you talking about?" Just then a blur jumped over Ryou planting it's foot into one of the thug's faces. The thug flew back smashing into some trash cans gripping his now broken nose. "Come on Ryou have we ever not got popcorn?"

The last thug weighed his options. These two children managed to take out his accomplices with relative ease. He could either run away, or he could attempt to fight two children and most likely end up like his partners. The thug didn't even get a chance to enact his escape plan when he felt the back of his head gripped. Strong fingers began to crush the thug's skull. When the pain finally did register the thug frantically flailed his arms about in a pathetic attempt to escape. Jin peered past the thugs head "Naruto Ryou you kids alright?" Naruto and Ryou waved at Jin, it was Ryou who spoke up "Hello Jin-san! How are you today?" Jin was about to reply when he was cut by the screaming of the thug. Jin gripped the thugs head tighter, then in an astounding feat of strength and speed smashed the final thugs head through the concrete wall of a building. Dusting his hands off he turned back to the two kids "Oh I'm well just came over get you two from your house when I stumbled across this scene mind telling me what was going on here?" Jin directed his gaze towards Naruto waiting for an explanation. Ryou grinned "WE WERE ON AN ADVENTURE!" Jin nodded accepting the answer "Alright it's fine as long as you two weren't hurt. Now come on we need to buy our tickets before the afternoon rush."

The two victims watched the entire exchange between the two boys and the thugs and were a little hard pressed to believe what happened. Although when Jin came into the picture pieces of the puzzle were falling into place for the older man. He had never met Ryou's son little Ryou in person he did, however, have a description of him and knew a little about the boy from what Ryou told him. He knew that his only friend was one child named Naruto who had been adopted by his best enforcer Jin. He also knew that this child Naruto was being taught and trained by Jin, and from the looks of it Jin's training was paying off for the blonde haired boy. Little Ryou was no slouch either, which eased the old man a little. After all with the amount of money he was throwing at the kid he expected something worth it in the end. Mishima cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Naruto, Ryou, and Jin stopped there conversation and turned around toward Mishima. "Sorry to interrupt but I suppose I should be thanking you boys as well as you Jin. If you hadn't shown up I shudder to think what would've happened to my daughter and myself." Jin looked at Mishima as if he'd grown a second head "Uh-huh… as much as I would like to question what your doing out in this area of time with only your daughter I'm afraid me and the boys were heading to the movies so if you don't mind we'll be leaving now." Mishima's eyes narrowed sure Jin was his best enforcer but he could be the most insolent subordinate at times. "Ah my apologies for keeping you then." Mishima then directed his gaze toward the two boys "I hope we meet again. Let us take our leave daughter." Waving the girl followed after Mishima. "Alright kids lets go." "Hey wait what about me?!" The trio stopped to look down at the thugs head sticking out from the ground. "What about you Mister?" Ryou asked perplexed. The thug struggled "You can't just leave me here!" Naruto looked to Jin "What do we do?" Jin waved them off "Leave him I'm sure his buddies will pick him up or something." With that the three walked off leaving a buried thug shouting obscenities behind them.

Walking to the theater Jin couldn't help but be a little impressed at the boys' handiwork. Jin had figured that Naruto had dispatched the one with the busted face while Ryou dragged the other fool into the ground. Though judging by the damage on the thugs face Naruto must not have kicked him very hard, at least in comparison to what Jin considered a soft kick. He would have to work on that with the boy, maybe weight training or chakra manipulation. Jin frowned when he thought it, when Jin was his age he was already doing both. That meant that Jin would just have to up Naruto's training a few notches. Not only that but with the way things were moving he would have to do some jobs out of the country soon. With local competition dwindling away other gangs would try and get in before Mishima solidifies himself as the major underworld power here. That was another thing bothering Jin what was Mishima doing in that part of town without guards, and those thugs were sporting new colors. Either those guys just like to dress alike or they were a new street gang that Jin didn't know about. Jin shook his head he would go see Mishima later right now it was movie time.

As the three were approaching the ticket taker Jin realized he didn't know what they were going to see. "Alright kids what're you in the mood to see?" Naruto grinned "We wanna see Princess Fuun!" Ryou scratched his head "But only because it's the one movie we haven't seen here yet." Naruto face faulted at his friends comment "Ryou you weren't supposed to tell him that!" "Why not?" Naruto sighed "Never mind Ryou." Jin ignored the two bickering as he approached the ticket counter "Three for the new movie." The vendor took Jin's money "Hmmm… the one with the new actress? Hear that's getting real popular especially with the kids. Here you are." Jin took the tickets and walked back reaching into his pocket he pulled out several bills and handed them Naruto "Alright you know the drill get what you guys want I'll go get us some seats."

As the two went off to get there snacks Jin was still thinking about the day's events. Mostly how to up Naruto's training. Sitting down in his favorite spot Jin couldn't help but note that the theater was rather empty today. _'Odd… this movie is supposed to be popular isn't it?'_ Looking around the theater Jin only noticed four other people, each sitting on opposite ends. Shrugging he relaxed in his seat making sure to pay attention to the other occupants. The two boys eventually made there way to Jin's seat with a mountain of junk food. Taking there seats they happily began to inhale there popcorn.

Jin didn't really pay attention to the movie no he was distracted by the fact that the other movie-goers hadn't look at the screen once. What little he did garner, though, made him wish that he watched it. Something about a princess on some quest blah blah blah standard plot but the actress she was a real cutie. There was something wrong with the situation. _'THERE!'_ It was only for an instant but Jin saw it clear as day. A ninja headband. _'Mist insignia… scratch mark damn missing Nin what the hell?'_ Jin looked over at the two kids then the screen the movie was just about finished "Naruto, Ryou we're leaving." The two looked over at Jin with shock in there eyes "But Jin the movies not over yet." Naruto pleaded "NOW." Jin said with a tone of finality. Before Naruto could protest any longer Jin grabbed him and Ryou by the waist and jumped back as several kunai and shuriken lodged themselves into the seats they previously occupied. Three clouds of smoke and one thrown cloak later revealed the assaulters. _'Huh four of them one women three men. All ninja if the headbands are the real deal. One seems to be a swordsmen, the big guy looks like a Taijutsu user, third guy looks edge could probably get him hitting his own teammates with little effort, and the women also looks like a Taijutsu user. Heh should be easy enough.' _Jin put Naruto and Ryou down and brought his sword up to eye level. "You kids stay down and try not to get in the way ok." The two nodded and ducked under the seat.

"I do hope you four have a good reason for interrupting our time at the movies." Jin said. The women was the one to speak up "We are here representing a party interested in setting up business in Kumo. Due to recent events, however, he felt it best a show of power was in order to ensure that he would be taken seriously. What better way to do that then killing the most feared killer in the underworld? Oh and don't worry about us being interrupted the theater is sealed." Jin slowly brought out his sword "Do Ryuu Sen." Bringing his sword up Jin struck at the ground in front of him causing the ground to explode outward in a blast of debris causing the four ninja to dodge into different directions. Seizing the advantage Jin rushed the woman intent on ending it quick with a horizontal slash. Inches away from connecting Jin's sword was blocked by the woman's kunai. "Heh you've gotta have at least some skill to block that lady but what about this?" Pulling his blade back against the ground Jin's sword came alive with flame "Ryuu Sou Sen." It was as if the sword split into hundreds of others. Strike after strike rained down on the Mist Nin while she desperately tried to block and dodge. Each successful block would blind her as more flames erupted from the sword each successful dodge would leave her singed from the fire. Jin was forced to abandon his onslaught as the woman's Taijutsu using comrade came crashing down in the spot he had occupied.

Jin regarded his opponents for a moment _'Even though there all from Mist it doesn't seem like they've worked together very long. They also don't seem very well informed of my abilities, whoever there employer is seems to me that he's a nobody or this is just some kind of test.' _"Are you four serious? Even if you had Kisame Hoshigaki with you you'd still lose." The temperature in the room dropped several degrees at the mention of the name. "And what would you know about Kisame?" The woman growled. Jin re-sheathed his sword "Not much only met him a couple times and only fought him once. He's pretty damn good and has strength that can only be compared to Tsunade; however his biggest failing is that he isn't very fast." He shifted his stance into one that would allow maximum mobility. The four Mist Nin stiffened slightly before the jumpy one went through several hand seals "**Kirigakure no Jutsu!"** A thick mist blocked out visibility in the theater. Jin smirked and focused his chakra enhancing his natural senses. Jin would let the little ninja have there fun thinking they have him at an advantage. The air behind Jin shifted_ 'Ah so the swordsman decides to go first eh?' _A blade sailed towards Jin's neck intent on separating from the rest of his body.

The mist Nin was nervous the speed and precision of his attacks on Mara were super human. He had heard rumors just trickled down information from the Seven Swordsmen, it was information that all aspiring swordsmen in Mist heard at one point or another. They spoke of a boogeyman of sort's, someone so fast and powerful that he could decimate a nation by himself. He never believed it, fully anyway, of course and those that did he scoffed at. That all changed four years ago, the Mist Nin was still apart of the village at the time, when news came in of three of the Seven Swordsmen's defeat. At first he wouldn't believe it; each member of the Seven Swordsmen was beyond the elite of the greatest swordsmen in all the great nations. To hear of one of their defeat was ludicrous but hearing that three were defeated by one man it was blasphemy. The Mist Nin thought it was a poorly thought up scare tactic. It was only when a bloodied and beaten Kisame trudged his way back into the village with a heavily damaged Samehada that most people in the village believed the news to be true. When asked what had happened a disturbingly calm Kisame only muttered three words "Devil Sword… Jin." He passed out after that.

If this is the same guy then they wouldn't stand a chance. There wouldn't be much difference if he attacked or not, if this was truly the man that defeated Kisame then his team was already dead if not then he was worried over nothing. The blade came closer to its target less than a second. The momentum stopped. The Mist Nin's eyes widened his sword was stopped, an inch from Jin's neck, by a finger. He quickly tried to pull his sword away. Jin pinched the sword between his fingers. Jin could feel the man behind him desperately pull and tug at his sword _'He should just give up his sword.' _Jin sighed he wished to start off the second round using a Battoujutsu strike he could've probably gotten two down with it. _'No use worrying about it now besides if his partners just wanna stand around surrounding me without helping who am I to complain?'_ Faster then anyone could register Jin drew his sword and stabbed it behind him. Jin felt his sword pierce through the familiar resistance pulling it back quickly. The sound of water splashing came from behind him _'Tch replacement Mizu Bunshin'_ Jin threw his opponents sword off to the side. The air was disturbed to Jin's left side, expecting a stealthy attack he was pleasantly surprised when the Taijutsu user came rushing towards him. A fist was launched at Jin's face at a blinding speed; Jin could make out the spiked gloves that covered the hand. The fist faltered just for a split second as a warning was called out by his swordsman companion it was all Jin needed. Doing a spin around the fist the Taijutsu user only had time for his eyes to widen before Jin finished his counter attack. The three remaining Mist Nin, who remained close enough to see but far enough not to be noticed, were in shock. First he stops the attack from behind like it was nothing then he dodges one of their faster companions charge with minimal effort. That's when the three Nin noticed the bloodied sword in Jin's hands, and the trickles of blood sliding down their comrade's neck. "Ryuu Kan Sen." The Mist Nin's head slip off its shoulders falling to ground in a bloody heap. The Nin's life blood exploded out of him creating a fountain effect. "You three get one chance unseal the theater and leave never let me see you again and you all can live." The three Mist Nin seriously contemplated the offer, seeing there comrade taken down so easily.

Mara felt the heavy Mist sway around in the air from the attack this petty swordsman just made a Mist Jonin look like a rookie. She shook her head she had to revaluate the situation their employer failed to fully detail the target, but he assured her that all the information needed on Mishima's Right Hand. As far as she knew this Jin character was supposed to be a sub par threat at best. Mara still could use the kids, no the file said he would cut through any obstacle to get to his enemy. She silently cursed if it came down to it she could open the gates, she was almost positive she could kill him if she had to resort to that. That plan had many flaws as well even if she killed him she would be in a near death state herself and no doubt someone would feel the chakra spike. Sneaking up on him would be quite difficult as well if the last attack was any indication. "I'm waiting for your answer Ninja from the Mist." Mara bit her lower lip there was always the chance that he would let them go.

Jin was getting impatient he laid down a decent deal he couldn't figure out what was taking so long. It's not like they were moving they had stayed in the same spot for several minutes now. Not to mention that Naruto and Ryou were moving all over the damn place in the back. _'Here we go.'_ Jin thought to himself. He felt the slight shifts in the air and heard the familiar sound of a shinobi doing hand seals Jin frowned before disappearing.

The edgy Mist Nin snapped hearing the words from his enemy after killing his comrade. To him it was all an elaborate trick to kill them while they let down there guard. The Mist Nin needed to strike now, while this threat wasn't active. He didn't wait any longer and flew into hand signs. That was when his intended target simply vanished from sight. It was just a sound, the air resisting a foreign object the audible "swoosh' sound was only there for an instant. After the noise died he could no longer feel his hands, he looked down at them his fingers didn't move when he told them to. The Mist Nin tried to move his fingers again no luck, the Mist Nin panicked and moved his arms… he wished he didn't. The delicate balance and disciplined dexterity of the Mist Nin were the only things keeping his forearms connected to his body, once he moved his arms as a whole the perfectly horizontal slash made itself known when the blood gushed. It was strange he felt no pain from the terrible wound and his attention was focused on the precision of the cut. If the Mist Nin was paying attention he would've noticed his upper half separated from his lower half at this point his last thoughts were of what this entity they were fighting could be.

Jin frowned as the mist dissipated signaling the end of the young Nin's life. He had to wonder was it so hard to believe he would let them go? No matter that fool made a bad choice and now his comrades would pay for it. The swordsman had retrieved his weapon and the woman attempted to get into a flanking position, Jin looked with indifference at the movie screen that had long since stopped showing the picture. The swordsman looked nervous another one of his comrades down, sure this one was only a Chuunin but he should've at least provided a distraction that lasted more then two seconds. The Mist sword user just had to know who he was "Four years ago three members of the Seven Swordsmen had an assassination mission that would increase Mist's military budget. Two weeks later only Hoshigaki Kisame returned, barely alive and his legendary blade cracked and shattered the only thing he said before passing out was 'Devil Sword Jin'. You wouldn't happen to anything about that would you?"

Jin didn't know why he let them live as long as he did_ 'Bah this is what I get for trying something different.'_ Jin went on the attack moving faster than any normal man could dream he intended to cleave the Mist swordsman in two. The sound of metal clashing with metal rang throughout the theater as the Mist swordsman put up a feeble defense against Jin's strike. The Mist Nin's arms screamed in pain as the power behind the blow sent him flying into the theater wall creating a crater. Jin walked over and clutched the injured Mist Nin by the neck and lifted him up to eye level. The Mist Nin looked pathetic his mouth dribbled blood, his arms were limp, and his sword lay on the ground Jin had had enough he leveled his sword on his glove intending to end the Nin's life with a bang when the scream of a very familiar person reached his ears.

Mara stood behind Naruto holding a kunai to his neck. She didn't care about the file anymore she had relied to much on it and for that her comrades paid the price. After observing Jin's skills in combat she concluded that only the gates would allow her to beat him. Even then she still needed the time to open and judging by his speed she could maybe get open two before he killed her. Mara needed a diversion the only one that could provide it would be Hiro but the jackass was about to be killed in an undoubtedly gruesome fashion. Even if she could get Hiro away from that guy she had no doubt he would only provide enough time for her to maybe get open three gates. She was taking a major gamble here hoping that Hiro would be able to do anything that would give her the time needed to prepare her attack. "Drop my partner or the kid dies." Mara drew blood from the blonde's neck, not much, but enough to get her point across. The little blonde in her arms squirmed and kicked trying to break out of her grip occasionally switching between growling and whimpering.

Mara was surprised again instead of having her head taken off, like she suspected, Jin merely tightened his grip on Hiro's neck and shot off a glare that made Mara want crawl in hole and die, still she stayed strong and kept a tight grip on the boy. Naruto struggled valiantly against his captor; she surprisingly had a strong grip. _'Wait wait did Jin say if you found someone behind you? "DAMMIT NARUTO WHAT'D I SAY ABOUT TAKING MY SWORD!?" Crap I really should've paid attention.'   
_

Some would say Ryou was a little… odd with his short attention span. The fact of the matter was Ryou was a boy who found the simplest things in life fascinating. There were, of course, certain things in his life that took immediate precedence over everything else if certain conditions were met. His time spent training, for example, was one of the few instances where his attention was focused solely on that. Right now those conditions have been met Naruto, his first friend… his only friend, was being threatened by an enemy ninja. It was like a machine being turned on, the way his mind worked going over lists of numerous jutsu, ways to implement them, and strategies that would help free his friend. Ryou cursed slightly this woman had to be a Jonin, no doubt about it; if that was the case none of the jutsu he regularly uses won't be able to bother her to much. Another problem arose when Jin didn't take her head off when she grabbed Naruto. Ryou had never personally seen Jin fight but his father had always praised the dark haired man's skills as the 'Greatest in the Five Elemental Countries' if his father was right, which he also had no doubt, than this women's skills were phenomenal. _'A jutsu with an enormous area but wouldn't kill Naruto in the process. I only need to distract long enough for Jin to get to her.' _Ryou scratched his head as a particularly nasty memory of training with Hoshigaki Kisame surfaced.

Sure the man was sadistic and looked like a fish but he was a genius when it came to the ninja arts. Training methods that demanded success in order to continue utilizing your limbs and complete discipline when learning his Kenjutsu style. Not that Ryou utilized a sword no that was Naruto's thing and besides unlike the style Naruto was learning Ryou had no desire to wield swords bigger than him; besides it built up speed in case some fool hardy Taijutsu user decided to take the fight to him. Ryou shook the thought of his favorite instructor from his head as he pulled two small pellets from his pocket. Soldier pills able to boost ones chakra capacity substantially a truly protected substance that could result in death if one if possessed without a permit. He remembered the day he received a batch before Kisame left._"Hey brat before I go I've got a present for you!" Ryou looked at the shark man in front of him he had never received any type of gift from Kisame before. "What is it?" Kisame smirked before retrieving a pouch and tossing it to his young student. Ryou opened it up to find a batch of red pills "What are these?" He asked holding one of the small tablets between his fingers. "Soldier Pills because you don't have the chakra to do many of the jutsu I taught you." Ryou nodded as Kisame walked off "Oh and brat next time we meet you show me how strong you've gotten!" _

Ryou sighed softly Kisame may have been crazy but he was probably his favorite teacher. Finishing that thought he popped the two pills in his mouth. He felt an incredible rush of power rush through his body he slammed his fists into the ground while trying to get his chakra under control. He went through several hand seals "**Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" **Mara openly gaped at the boy when he uttered those words. The room rumbled before an explosion of water tore through the theater. Mara, cursing, dropped the boy and retreated to the ceiling.

Jin seized his chance and grabbed Naruto before following suit. "Naruto stay on the wall I need to get Ryou." Moving as fast as he could, Jin narrowed his eyes as he felt the tremendous increase in chakra _'The Gates'_. Jin yanked Ryou, a little harsher than intended, out of the water and returned to Naruto "NARUTO WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T DROP HIM!" Before Naruto could even nod Jin disappeared. In an instant Jin appeared in front of Mara, sword inches from her neck.

The fist moved at a speed that Jin was hard pressed to keep up with. Thunder echoed throughout the theater as Mara's fist connected with Jin's jaw. Mara vanished from sight moving at such a speed that the theater ripped itself apart. Using all of his skill Jin was able to twist around mid-air and brought his arms up to block a monstrous kick aimed at his spine. Jin grit his teeth as pain shot through his forearms, his grip loosened allowing his sword to fall to the water below, and was shot off in another direction.

Naruto could only stare in horror as Jin, the man he thought unbeatable, was used as a human pinball. He desperately wanted to cover his ears as sickening cracks reached his ears, but was stopped only by not wanting to drop Ryou. His eyes widened when Jin crashed into the wall on the opposite end of him. Naruto shouted out Jin's name as Jin slid out of the crater only to be driven through the wall by Mara's foot. Whatever protection the Mist Nin had set up was utterly destroyed when Jin flew into the empty back streets.

A few bums ran out of the street screaming when Jin crashed into the ground. Jin struggled to stand up only to place his broken forearm under his chin as his opponent appeared and delivered a monstrous uppercut. His hiss of pain could barely be heard as he once again sent air borne. Mara knew this was the end regardless of if she killed this swordsman or not, she was in the open, in an enemy village, and lit up like a casino she'd be lucky if she could finish this last attack. She appeared above Jin as his he reached the apex of his flight.

One fist into his stomach, blood flew out of his mouth. The second fist into his ribcage, breathing became harder. A foot smashed into his nose breaking it. He hit the ground as Mara crashed on top of him.

Naruto let out another gasp as another crash was heard outside. Tears were going down his face _'I wasn't any help at all even Ryou did something! I only got in the way!' _Another crash this one louder than any of the others _'JIN HE NEEDS HELP!'_ Naruto dropped from his spot, the water long since drained though the hole in the wall, letting out a small grunt as he landed. He gently placed Ryou on the ground before picking up Jin's sword and running outside. Naruto gasped at what he saw. Jin struggled into a sitting position while the female ninja stood just in front of him her skin color back to normal while her left arm was bent at an extremely odd angle. His eyes widened as she took a kunai from her weapons pouch and before Naruto knew what he was doing he charged her.

Jin looked up at the Mist Kunoichi as she took out a Kunai and slowly advanced on him. He was well versed in the Gates having fought many Taijutsu masters in the war, as it stood now it was a pretty even fight. No doubt it was a surprise to the woman that he could move let alone live through that onslaught, and from the way she was moving her she could barely stand herself. That's when he saw a mop of blonde hair, his eyes widened seeing Naruto charge Jin's sword ready to impale the woman. She must've seen the look on his face because she turned around as well.

Mara grit her teeth in frustration. She didn't have enough strength to dodge and she only had one good arm and if she got rid of her kunai she didn't have anything else to finish off the swordsman with. She cursed under her breath and threw the kunai at Naruto at least she tried to anyway. Mara's attention shifted to the vice like grip of Jin's hand for only a second, she didn't even get a chance to wonder how this man was able to move at all, before she yelped in pain as Jin's sword pierced her stomach. She turned back to Naruto to notice him trembling as he gripped the sword tightly. Mara attempted to bring up her other, destroyed, arm in an attempt to push the boy off only to have the blade twisted.

Naruto didn't know what to think he had always seen Jin do this from afar and disregarded it instead focusing on how cool Jin's moves were. Killing a person up close looking at the wound and hearing there pain filled breaths changed his perspective. He ignored her as best he could as he ripped the blade out of her with all the force he could muster. Naruto trembled even more as blood shot out of the wound like a fountain staining his clothes and face he covered his ears and closed his eyes trying to block out the gurgling sound Mara made as she fell back breathing her last.

Naruto let out a choked sob he wanted to go home, he wanted to be the happy ignorant kid again. He had just killed someone it didn't matter that she was trying to kill Jin or Ryou he had ended her life and that made him sick to his stomach. He felt two arms encircle him words telling it was alright in his ear were whispered.

Jin mentally cursed, the day was a disaster Naruto was about to have a breakdown, little Ryou was collapsed in the theater, and he hadn't taken a beating this bad in a long while. Using the last of his strength he lifted up Naruto picked up Ryou from the theater and stole off into the back alleys. Jin thanked his luck that the area was apart of Mishima's territory any other place and ANBU would've been there once the fight was taken outside. It would be an hour before Jin made it to Ryou's house banged on the door walked in and collapsed on the couch.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR ABOUT TO DIE!?" Ryou screamed at Jin. Hearing the shouting Kimiko walked in from the kitchen and nearly collapsed at the sight. She rushed over to little Ryou kneeling down "RYOU RYOU WAKE UP WAKE UP!" She was in hysterics. Jin brought a hand to his face "Kimiko please calm down all he needs is rest he'll be fine in a few days." Kimiko continued to sob for her child as Ryou slapped his face "Mind telling us what happened?" Jin let out a sigh "We were ambushed in the theater Mist Nin four of them three were the normal canon fodder I usually go against, but the last one the leader she used the Gates and messed me up something fierce. Your boy did a jutsu that took quite a bit out of him he was left with Chakra Exhaustion. Towards the end it was Naruto that ended up killing the Kunoichi that did this to me." Kimiko let out a gasp hearing this and turned her head to the trembling Naruto on the floor she rushed over and enveloped him in a hug. "Ryou watch Naruto for me will you? I need to go see the old man." Jin got to his feet and clenched his side Ryou made a move to help but was stopped. "No its fine just make sure Naruto's alright for a little bit yeah." With that Jin walked out of the house.

The Mishima estate so large and dangerous that even the Ninja of Kumo regard it as suicide to even knock on the door without invitation. It came as no surprise when Jin kicked the front door off it's hinges. What was surprising, however, was how bad Jin looked. Most of the guards openly gaped at the dried blood under his nose and torn clothes that looked like they went through a meat grinder. He approached the doors leading into Mishima's office just as he was about to twist the doorknob one of the guards grabbed Jin's wrist. "Hey who the fuck do you think you are barging into the bosses room like that?!" The second guard' eyes widened as he saw the rookie's attempt at intimidation. Most of the time Jin didn't really care if the new guys did something like that after all they were new, but this time seeing the look on Jin's face made him want to wet himself.

Jin regarded the new guard with emotionless eyes he really didn't have time for this and the grip on his wrist was aggravating his injuries. Without a second thought he tore his hand away and backhanded with so much force that he flew through three walls before stopping. He opened up the door and walked in.

Mishima was enjoying a drink sitting around his fireplace. He had encountered a new gang today confirming his suspicions of some of Mist's families trying to set up shop here. Mishima smirked he was going to correct that soon. He turned his head when he heard his door open and let out a gasp at the sight. Mishima had known Jin for almost ten years and had never seen him in this shape before. "Shit Jin what happened to you?" Jin shrugged "Got jumped with Naruto and Little Ryou at the movies Mist Nin four of them." Mishima had to blink at that "Surely they were no match for you." It was a statement "No they were all weak except for the one who could use the gates." Mishima narrowed his eyes he had heard of the Gates only from Jin and from what he said only the greatest Taijutsu masters could open them. "Eh… I didn't expect for the Mist to send assassins after you so soon." Jin took a seat on the chair next to Mishima's "What're you talking about?" Mishima passed Jin a folder "You're going to be heading off to the Mist village everything's been taken care and you shouldn't encounter any problems with the ninja there. You need to meet up with my contact there and ensure that he is the one that takes over business there." Jin opened up the folder and took a look "What's the contacts name?" Mishima went back to his drink "Gato."

Naruto was sitting in the corner his head buried in his knees. Many thoughts ran through his head trying to figure out what had happened today. He needed to become stronger he couldn't allow anything like that to happen again. There was also the fact that he killed someone. The feeling had been horrible even if she was trying to kill Jin and Ryou she was still a person. _'Ryou my friend… how could he want to do that for a living? It's a horrendous thing. I can't let him face that by himself I won't. I'll need to become a ninja.'_

**Yay finished another chapter. Naruto going to ninja academy won't happen for one or two more chapters yeah. **


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